VIA  CHRISTI 

AN    INTRODUCTION   TO 
THE  STUDY  OF  MISSIONS 


LOUISE  MANNING  HODGKINS 


BV_2100  .H63  1901 
Hodgkms,  Louise  Manning, 

1846-1935. 
Via  Christi 


VIA   CHRISTI 


•The2)<^o 


ST.   PAUL,   THE   FIRST   FOREIGN   MISSIONARY 


VIA   CHEISTI 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY 

OF  MISSIONS 


BY 


LOUISE   MANNING  HODGKINS,  M.A. 

AtTTHOB  OF   "  A   GUIDE  TO   THE   STUDY  OF  NINETEENTH 
CENTUEY   AUTHOBS" 


'  Eevelation  Is  the  majestic  march  of  God  in  history." 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 

1901 

All  rights  reserved 


COPTEIGHT,   1901, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  September,  1901.      Reprinted  October, 
November,  1901. 


Nortoooti  ^xtzi 

J.  S.  CuBhing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  k  Smith 
Norwood  Masa.  U.S.A. 


DEDICATED  TO 

;ail  ^tuuent0  of  ^ptoionsf 


STATEMENT  OF  THE  CENTRAL 
COMMITTEE 

During  the  Ecumenical  Conference,  held  in  New 
York,  April  21-May  1,  1900,  a  long-contemplated  plan 
to  unite  all  Women's  Boards  of  Missions  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  in  a  more  thorough  study  of  missions 
took  definite  shape. 

At  a  meeting  held  at  the  close  of  the  conference,  a 
representative  committee  was  appointed,  and  was  given 
discretionary  power  to  arrange  the  course  of  study  and 
provide  the  method  of  its  pursuance. 

"Via  Christi,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Mis- 
sions," is  the  first  of  a  series  proposed  by  the  committee, 
and  will  be  followed  by  studies  of  India,  China,  Japan, 
and  other  countries,  each  volume  treating  of  the  history 
of  all  missions  in  the  country  to  which  it  !i  devoted, 
and  beginning,  in  each  case,  with  the  nineteenth  century. 
This  course  is  intended  to  cover  a  period  of  several  years. 

A  simple  preliminary  series  of  six  lessons,  in  leaflet 
form,  for  use  in  missionary  meetings,  clubs,  and  home 
study,  entitled  "  Christian  Missions  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,"  was  issued  by  the  Committee,  September, 
1900,  the  lessons  being :  1.  Awakenings  and  Beginnings. 
2.  The   Century  in  India.     3.  The  Century  in  China. 


Vlll       STATEMENT    OF    THE    COMMITTEE 

4.  The  Century  in  Japan.  5.  The  Century  in  Africa. 
6.  Opportunities  and  Coming  Conflicts  of  the  Twentieth 
Century.  Sample  copies  of  these  leaflets  can  be  obtained 
from  the  Secretary,  or  through  any  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee. 

Miss  A.  B.   CHILD,  Chairman, 

704  Congregational  House ^  Boston. 

Mrs.    N.    M.    WATERBURY, 

Tremont  Temple,  Boston. 

Mrs.    J.    T.    GRACEY, 

171  Pearl  St.,  Bochester,  N.Y. 

Mrs.   a.   T.   TWING, 

Church  Missions  House, 

281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York. 

Miss  E.   C.   PARSONS, 

Presbyterian  Building, 

156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

Miss   CLEMENTINA   BUTLER, 

Secretary  and  Treasurer, 

Newton  Center,  Mass. 


PREFACE 

To  the  majority  of  students  of  missions, 
familiarity  with  the  Pauline  missionary  tours 
is  succeeded  by  familiarity  with  the  missions 
that  began  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. This  little  book  attempts  to  show  what 
Christian  missions  continued  ''both  to  do  and 
to  teach "  from  the  apostolic  age  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  period  of  modern  effort.  To  the 
reader  without  access  to  a  library,  it  endeavors 
to  supply  a  brief  outline  of  this  vast  period; 
to  the  student  of  larger  opportunity,  the  bibli- 
ography should  make  every  chapter  the  founda- 
tion of  unlimited  reading. 

The  book  has  chiefly  to  do  with  those  whose 
object  was  to  make  Jesus  Christ  known  to  the 
world  through  the  direct  conveyance  of  the 
message  of  the  gospel,  and  gives  scant  atten- 
tion to  others  whose  mission  was  chiefly  to 
edify  the  church  and  defend  it  from  heresies. 

Indebtedness  should  be  acknowledged  to  the 


X  PREFACE 

churcli  histories  of  Milman,  Schaff,  Fisher,  Ram- 
say, Hurst,  and  others,  and  to  the  many  friends 
who,  through  good  counsel  and  the  recommen- 
dation of  wise  books,  have  assisted  the  author 
to  a  partial  achievement  of  her  purpose.  Par- 
ticularly, in  the  direct  line  of  this  effort,  have 
Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  our  Church 
Universal,"  Smith's  "Short  History  of  Mis- 
sions," and  Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years 
Before  Carey "  furnished  important  data  on 
which  to  base  this  simpler  work. 

Where  there  are  several  versions  of  th^  same 
fact  or  narrative,  a  statement  has  been  made  on 
the  concurrence  of  two  or  more  good  authorities. 

L.  M.  H. 

Boston,  Mass., 
September  1, 1901. 


FOREWORD 

To  ignore  the  history  of  missions  leaves  a 
defect  in  the  best  education;  to  include  this 
study  forms  many  a  connecting  link  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  There  are  three  distinct 
roads  that  may  be  pursued  in  the  story  of  the 
journey  of  the  gospel  message.  The  first,  by 
following  the  line  of  history ;  the  second, 
through  the  stories  of  the  translations  of  the 
Scriptures ;  the  third  is  a  blood-marked  way 
that  the  holy  martyrs  have  trod  under  the  per- 
secutions in  the  Christian  church.  Yet  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  object  and  general  method 
have  been  one  in  all  ages.  The  form  of  pres- 
entation has  widely  differed ;  but,  with  little 
exception,  up  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation, 
missionary  operations  may  be  called  united 
efforts. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  work 
begun  by  the  Semitic  race  soon  passed  to  the 
Aryan  races,  first  through  Hellenized  Jews,  and 
xi 


xii  FOUEWOBD 

from  them  to  all  nations.  We  are  indebted  to 
the  Greeks,  not  only  for  our  foundation  princi- 
ples in  logic  and  geometry,  our  noblest  epic  and 
most  powerful  drama,  but  for  the  beautiful,  fin- 
ished, intellectual  form  in  which  the  Scriptures 
and  the  priceless  writings  of  the  early  fathers 
of  the  church  have  come  down  to  us,  the  most 
perfect  instrument  to  convey  to  mankind  the 
most  perfect  revelation  of  truth  the  world  has 
yet  known. 

In  the  study  of  "Via  Christi,  an  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Study  of  Missions,"  it  will  be  noted 
that  the  great  apostolic  mission  closed  with  the 
Christianization  of  the  world  as  then  known, 
and  forms  the  only  wholly  popular  missionary 
movement.  The  mediaeval  period  of  missions 
closes  with  the  Christianization  again,  in  name 
at  least,  of  the  generally  known  world.  But 
this  difference  is  to  be  marked.  In  the  former 
experience,  it  was  the  Christianization  of  people 
who  represented  high  intellectual  culture ;  in 
the  latter,  they  were  largely  barbarians  who 
were  made  loyal  to  the  Cross. 

Another  point  worthy  of  remark  is,  that  in 
the  East  the  Greek  culture  remained  to  give 
refinement   to   the   education  of   the    cloister ; 


FOREWORD  XIU 

while  in  the  West  the  establishment  of  pioneer 
schools,  like  those  under  Columba  in  North 
Scotland,  Boniface  in  Germany,  and  Ansgar  in 
Scandinavia,  gave  a  sinewy  strength  to  Chris- 
tianity, making  it  vastly  more  competent  to 
meet  the  hostile  Saracenic  faith  than  was  mani- 
fested in  the  region  once  the  centre  of  the  first 
missionary  enterprises. 

As  the  church  grew  more  solid  in  its  founda- 
tions, two  types  of  missionary  effort  may  be 
observed  :  that  which  aimed  at  territorial  ex- 
tension and  carried  the  gospel  to  the  heathen, 
destroying  idols  and  breaking  up  heathen  prac- 
tices in  most  heroic  fashion;  and  that  which, 
as  thoroughly  of  missionary  character,  pursued 
long  itineraries  in  newly  or  inadequately  Chris- 
tianized regions,  and,  by  recovering  lapsed 
churches  and  winning  new  adherents,  made 
way  for  the  Reformation. 

It  should  not  pass  unnoted  that  with  the 
Reformation  was  called  out  faint  interest  to  con- 
vey the  gospel  to  those  who  had  not  received 
it,  and  the  centuries  immediately  succeeding 
possess  little  enthusiasm  for  the  extension  of 
Christ's  kingdom ;  while  the  church  which 
had  been  abandoned  on  account  of  its  corrupt 


XIV  FOBEWORB 

practices  showed  its  chief  sign  of  life  in  mis- 
sions remote  from  Rome. 

Wherever  the  gospel  is  carried  it  will  be 
found  that  it  was  the  earliest  care  of  the  mis- 
sionary to  see  that  the  Scriptures  and  best 
Christian  writings  were  put  into  the  hands  of 
the  people,  and  this  policy  has  been  retained 
in  the  Protestant  church  invariably  and  in  the 
Roman  church  up  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  tables  of  contemporaneous  life  and  work 
accompanying  each  chapter  are  arranged  with 
two  objects  in  view :  first,  to  show  the  reader 
what  the  world  in  general  was  making,  admir- 
ing, or  considering;  and  second,  to  enable  him  to 
understand  the  practical,  intellectual,  and  spir- 
itual advantages  and  dijBficulties  offered  those 
chiefly  anxious  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ 
in  a  world  that  they  were  "  in,  but  not  of."  A 
few  selections  from  the  period,  at  the  close  of 
each  chapter,  should  aid  in  revealing  the  out- 
ward expression  of  the  inward  thought  of  the 
times  when  they  found  utterance.  These  may 
be  greatly  enlarged  by  readings  from  the  origi- 
nal sources  whence  they  are  taken. 

The  "Themes  for  Study  and  Discussion" 
have  aimed  to  include  topics  that  would  form 


FOBEWOBD  XV 

a  partial  compensation  for  omissions  on  account 
of  limited  space,  and  for  many  a  rare  name  in 
church  history  which  could  not  otherwise  legiti- 
mately find  place.  The  publishers  of  all  books 
of  reference  under  "Themes  for  Study  and  Dis- 
cussion "  will  be  found  in  the  bibliography.  A 
series  of  maps  and  a  portfolio  of  illustrative 
pictures,  published  to  accompany  the  study,  will 
be  found  of  practical  use  and  high  interest. 

The  names  and  titles  chronologically  arranged 
in  the  Tables  will  not  be  found  repeated  in  the 
Index. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  from  first  to  last,  through 
all  the  centuries,  "  one  increasing  purpose  runs," 
— the  desire  to  make  Jesus  Christ  known  to  the 
world;  that  the  only  entirely  successful  mis- 
sions have  followed  the  consecration  of  espe- 
cially selfless  souls,  who  have  made  Jesus  Christ 
the  centre  of  their  message  and  continually 
restated  his  purpose  in  the  world,  "to  draw 
all  men"  unto  himself. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Statement  of  Central  Committee    .        .        .     vii 

Preface ix 

Foreword xi 

Table  I 1 

CHAPTER  I 

Paul  to  Constantine 

From  the  Apostolic  Age  to  the  Christianization  of 
the  Roman  Empu-e.  First  to  the  Fourth 
Century 3 

Table  II 37 

CHAPTER  II 

Constantine  to  Charlemagne 

From  the  Christianization  of  the  Roman  Empire  to 
the  Establishment  of  the  Christian  Empire  of 
the  AVest.     Fourth  to  the  Ninth  Century .         .      39 
xvii 


xvill  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Table  III 84 

.    CHAPTER  III 

Charlemagne  to  Bernard  of  Clairvaux 

From  the  Establishment  of  the  Christian  Empire  of 
the  West  to  the  Crusading  Church.  Ninth  to 
the  TweKth  Century 85 


Table  IV 119 

CHAPTER  IV 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux  to  Luther 

From  the  Crusading  Church  to  the  Reformation. 

Twelfth  to  the  Sixteenth  Century      .        .        .121 


Table  V 156 

CHAPTER  V 

Luther  to  the  Halle  Missionaries 

From  the  Reformation  to  the  Foundation  of  Early 
European  Societies  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel.  Sixteenth  to  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury      159 


CONTENTS 

XIX 

Table  VI         

PAGK 

196 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Halle  Missionaries  to  Carey  and 

JUDSON 

From  the  Foundation  of  Early  European  Societies 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Be- 
ginning of  Nineteenth  Century  Missions.  Eigh- 
teenth to  the  Nineteenth  Century      .        .        .     199 

Bibliography 239 

Index 245 


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CHAPTER   I 

Paul  to  Constantine 

From  the  Apostolic  Age  to  the  Christianization  of  the  Roman 

Empire 

First  to  the  Fourth  Century 

Apostolic  Missions.  —  The  aim  of  the  apos- 
tolic missions  was  to  obey  in  letter  and  spirit 
the  commands  found  in  :  — 


Matthew 
xxviii.  18-20. 
And  Jesus  came  to  them  and  spake 
unto  them,  saying,  All  authority  hath 
been  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost : 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  commanded  you  :  and 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world. 

xxiv.  14. 

And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world 
for  a  testimony  unto  all  the  nations  ; 
and  then  shall  the  end  come. 

LXTKE 

xxiv.  46-49. 

Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  rise  again  from  the 
dead  the  third  day  ;  and  that  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  should  be 
preached  in  his   name  unto  all  the 


Mark 
x\i.  15,  16. 
And  he  said  unto  them.  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  whole  creation.  He  that  be- 
lieveth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved  ; 
but  he  that  disbelieveth  shall  be  con- 
demned. 


John 

XX.  21. 

Jesus  therefore  said  to  them  again, 
"Peace  be  unto  you:  as  the  Father 
hath  sent  me  even  so  send  1  you." 

Acts 
1.  4,  5,  8. 

And,  being  assembled  together 
with  them,  he  charged  them  not  to 
depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  to  wait 
for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which, 
.<?(//(/  he,  ye  heard  from  me:  for  John 
indeed  baptized  with  water ;  but  ye 
shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost 


VIA   CHBISTl 


nations,  beginning  from  Jerusalem. 
Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things. 
And  behold,  I  send  forth  the  promise 
of  my  Father  upon  you  :  but  tarry 
ye  in  the  city,  until  3'e  be  clothed 
with  power  from  on  high. 


not  many  days  hence.  But  ye  shall 
receive  power,  when  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  come  upon  you  :  and  ye  shall  be 
my  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem,  and 
in  all  Judaea  and  Samaria,  and  unto 
the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth. 


The  method  was  to  gather  converts  at  cen- 
tral points,  baptize  them,  organize  them  into 
churches,  give  them  special  instruction  and 
training,  and  put  them  under  the  care  of  native 
pastors.  In  point  of  time  they  had  the  advan- 
tage of  being  closely  connected  with  Christ's 
life  on  earth.  Through  the  special  power 
given  them  directly  from  him,  they  dealt  with 
the  supernatural,  and  healed  diseases,  but  we 
nowhere  find  their  power  over  material  life 
made  other  than  secondary  to  their  obedience 
to  the  Great  Commission.  From  the  first  they 
took  women  into  the  church  and  service,  and 
were  no  respecters  of  persons  as  to  the  classes 
from  whom  they  gathered  converts.  The 
record  of  the  early  church  centres  may  be 
found  in:  Acts  xiv.  21-23,  xvi.  1-5;  Rom.  xvi. 
1;  Acts  XX.  7;  Col.  iv.  13-16;  Acts  xv.  41; 
1  Cor.  xvi.  19;  Gal.  i.  2  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  1,  23,  21. 

It  has  been  rightly  said  that  the  most  living 
of  all  God's  oracles,  the  most  evangelical  of  all 
evangelists,  the  most  trustworthy  of  all  God's 
messengers,  is  the  Word  of  God.  The  oral 
teaching  of  the  apostles,  who  laid  no  claim  to 


PAUL   TO  CONSTANTINE  5 

the  creation  of  literature,  formulated  itself 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  in  a  manner 
not  unlike  the  Homeric  poems.  The  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures  began  where  missions 
to  the  heathen  began  — •  at  Antioch  —  the  Gos- 
pels dating  from  60  to  70  A.D.,  and  the  oldest 
preserved  manuscript  from  the  fourth  century. 
The  Scriptures  in  Syriac  and  Latin  have  his- 
torical date  from  the  end  of  the  second  century, 
and  the  Coptic  from  the  end  of  the  third. 
There  is  no  extant  Christian  literature  in  Latin 
until  150. 

The  Meld  of  Service. — The  missionary  field 
of  the  first  three  centuries  was  the  great  Roman 
world,  with  its  golden  milestone  in  the  centre 
of  the  Roman  Forum,  and  its  roads  stretching 
from  the  Euphrates  in  the  east  to  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  in  the  west,  from  the  Danube  on  the 
north  to  Ethiopia  on  the  south,  thus  covering 
an  area  of  two  million  square  miles.  This  would 
not  include  the  less-known  regions  of  the  bar- 
barians. Over  this  immense  surface,  images  of 
gods  and  goddesses,  sacred  groves,  altars,  tem- 
ples, and  shrines,  betokened  a  world  given  over  to 
idolatry.  Through  the  great  Roman  highways 
every  part  of  the  known  world  was  accessible, 
and  free  interchange  of  commerce  and  thought 
prevailed.      Greek    language  and  culture    was 


6  VIA   CHRISTI 

the  standard  of  the  highest  expression  of 
thought.  That  the  fuhiess  of  the  time  was 
come  (Gal.  iv.  4,  5)  is  shown  in  many  ways, 
and  in  none  more  emphatically  than  by  the 
speed  with  which  the  message  ran  in  an  age 
hospitable  to  the  entertainment  of  new  ideas. 

The  hindrances  were,  from  racial  conditions. 
Acts  xiv.  16  ;  from  idolatry.  Acts  xiv.  8-13, 
xvi.  16,  xix.  23-27,  xxviii.  4, 11 ;  from  Judaism, 
Acts  vii.  51-53,  ix.  1,  2,  xii.  3 ;  from  persecu- 
tion, 2  Cor.  xi.  25-27  ;  from  a  prevailing  false 
philosophy  of  life,  Acts  xvii.  22,  23,  xvi.  20,  21, 
xvii.  6,  7. 

But  by  the  end  of  the  first  century  Christ 
had  been  preached  from  Babylon  to  Spain,  from 
Alexandria  to  Rome,  by  a  Greek-speaking 
church.  It  was  a  witnessing  church.  The 
word  "witness"  occurs  in  the  New  Testament 
one  hundred  seventy-five  times. 

7^e  First  Missionaries.  —  The  first  foreign 
missionary  tour  was  started  in  response  to 
Acts  xvi.  9,  and  was  undertaken  by  the  noble 
quartet,  Paul,  Silas,  Timothy,  and  Luke.  The 
story  of  their  self-supporting,  missionary  itin- 
eraries is  recorded  in  Acts  xvi-xx.  The 
converts  of  these  missionaries,  in  turn,  fre- 
quently became  missionaries  themselves ;  and 
hence,  with  the  effect  of  the  torch  of  fire  among 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  7 

the  ancient  Scottish  clans,  personal  loyalty  and 
enthusiasm  daily  extended  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  the  boundaries  of  his  kingdom. 

It  was  not  human  foresight,  but  divine  guid- 
ance, that  immediately  brought  Paul  to  the 
centre  where  his  message  might  go  out  by 
every  road  leading  from  Rome.  Paul  met 
heathenism  as  a  missionary,  but  it  was  the 
heathenism  that  was  offering  humanity  art, 
science,  literature,  beautiful  forms  in  nature 
increased  by  landscape  gardening  and  archi- 
tecture, as  the  sole  end  of  existence.  As  to  the 
future,  it  was  expressed  by  Csesar  in  the  Sen- 
ate, "  Beyond  this  life  there  is  no  place  for 
either  trouble  or  joy."  Those  who  have  studied 
the  ancient  tombs  along  the  Appian  Way  in 
Rome  remember  inscriptions  like  these  :  "  To 
eternal  sleep."  "  I  was  naught  and  am  naught." 
Occasionally  a  writer  like  Tacitus  begins  a  sen- 
tence with,  "  If,  as  the  wise  suppose,  great  souls 
do  not  become  extinct  when  they  die  ..." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Paul,  fitted  by 
nature  and  education  for  scholarly  work,  rarely 
met  with  genuine  barbarians.  The  two  excep- 
tional instances  are  recorded  in  Acts  xiv.  6,  7, 
when  in  self-defence  he  fled  with  Barnabas  to 
Lycaonia,  and  when  the  shipwreck  that  formed 
a  part  of  the  adventures  of  Paul's  journey  to 


8  VIA  CHBISTI 

Rome  cast  him  on  the  island  of  Melita,  Acts 
xxviii.  1. 

Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  admirable  book,  "Two 
Thousand  Years  Before  Carey,"  divides  the 
early  missionaries  into  preaching  missionaries, 
like  Paul  and  Silas,  literary  missionaries,  as 
Justin  Martyr  and  Hippolytus,  and  business- 
men missionaries.  Christians  who  went  about 
their  daily  work,  but  improved  every  opportu- 
nity to  show  forth  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

In  Syria.  —  It  was  from  Syria  that  Barnabas 
and  Saul  set  out  on  the  first  foreign  mission 
(Acts  xiii.  23),  so  successfully  pursued  for 
three  years ;  and  from  Syria  come  to  us  some 
of  the  most  famous  names  of  the  church,  such 
as  Ignatius  (30-107?)  the  letter  writer  and 
early  martyr ;  Justin  Martyr  (103-165),  the 
philosopher ;  Tatian  (120-?),  the  fiery  pupil  of 
Justin  Martyr  and  author  of  the  first  "  Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels";  Eusebius  (266-340),  the 
early  church  historian;  and,  a  little  later,  Jerome 
and  Sozomen.  The  story  of  the  conversion  of 
Tatian  well  illustrates  the  attitude  toward 
the  truth  of  many  another  mind  grounded 
in  the  Greek  philosophy.  He  says  that  while 
he  was  giving  earnest  attention  to  discover  the 
truth  in  the  religious  rites  of  the  pagans   of 


PAUL   TO  COJSfSTANTINE  9 

the  day,  lie  happened  to  meet  with  certain 
barbaric  writings,  too  old  to  be  compared  Avith 
the  opinions  of  the  Greeks  and  too  divine  to 
be  compared  with  their  errors  ;  and  was  led  to 
put  faith  in  these  by  the  unpretending  cast  of 
the  language,  the  inartificial  character  of  the 
writers,  the  foreknowledge  displayed  of  future 
events,  the  excellent  quality  of  the  precepts, 
and  the  declaration  of  the  government  of  the 
universe  as  centred  in  one  being.  And  his 
soul,  being  taught  of  God,  discerned  that  the 
former  class  of  writings  leads  to  condemnation, 
but  that  these  put  an  end  to  the  slavery  that  is 
in  the  world,  and  rescue  from  a  multiplicity  of 
rulers  and  ten  thousand  tyrants,  while  they 
give  us,  not  indeed  what  had  not  before  been 
received,  but  what  had  been  received  but  error 
had  prevented  from  being  retained. 

In  Africa.  — The  Apostles  Mark  and  Philip, 
in  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  respectively,  are  the 
reputed  founders  of  missions  in  Africa,  the 
only  continent,  save  that  in  which  he  was  born, 
ever  entered  by  Jesus  Christ.  Philip's  oppor- 
tunity, recorded  in  Acts  ix.  26-40,  doubtless 
had  unrecorded  results. 

The  great  centre  of  beginnings  in  Africa  was 
in  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  where  was  planted 
the  first  school  of  Christian  theology  recorded 


10  VIA   CHRISTI 

in  history,  a  school  associated  with  the  noble 
names  of  Pantsenus,  who  afterward  went  to 
India;  Clement,  the  Athenian  scholar;  and 
Origen,  who  wrote  the  first  important  work  in 
favor  of  missions,  called  "Against  Celsus."  So 
strongly  intrenched  was  Christianity  in  Alex- 
andria that  paganism,  incensed  at  its  growth, 
made  it  the  scene  of  great  persecutions  in  later 
years,  and  the  burial-place  of  many  a  Christian 
martyr. 

Carthage  became,  in  the  first  century  after 
Christ,  a  second  great  centre  of  Christianity 
in  Africa,  growing,  in  spite  of  incredible  per- 
secution, under  the  leadership  of  Tertullian 
(160-  ?),  Cyprian  (195-258),  Arnobius  (close 
of  the  third  century),  Augustine  (354-430).  A 
Joseph-like  story  of  Frumentius  and  Edessius, 
two  young  Tyrian  captives,  spared  on  account 
of  their  loveliness,  and  growing  up  to  places 
of  influence  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  Abys- 
sinia, where  they  introduced  the  principles  and 
teachings  of  Christianity,  forms  the  first  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  the  Abyssinian  church, 
which  even  Mohammedanism  did  not  succeed 
in  overthrowing. 

As  the  history  of  the  Egyptian  church  is 
concentrated  in  Clement  of  Alexandria  and 
Origen,  and  that  of  the  Galilean  in   Irenseus, 


PAUL    TO   CONSTANTINE  11 

SO  the  church  of  Africa  has  its  life  summed  up 
in  the  work  of  three  great  men :  Tertullian, 
Cyprian,  and  Augustine. 

The  promise  for  Christianity  in  Africa  up  to 
the  fifth  century  was  of  the  brightest,  and  Is- 
lam had  her  fiercest  conquests,  covering  eight 
centuries,  in  taking  North  Africa  from  Chris- 
tendom. The  story  is  one  long  serial  of  mar- 
tyrdoms, of  which  that  of  the  lovely  Perpetua 
is  one  of  the  best  known  in  history,  poetry, 
and  art. 

In  Persia.  —  It  must  be  remembered  that 
Persia  in  the  early  Christian  centuries  was  not 
the  Persia  of  our  day,  but  extended  from  the 
mountains  of  Armenia  on  the  east  to  the  Ara- 
bian desert  on  the  west,  covering  a  large  por- 
tion of  Central  Asia.  The  Mesopotamians,  who 
formed  a  part  of  Peter's  audience  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  were  Persians.  Thaddeus,  the 
apostle,  is  reputed  to  be  the  founder  of  missions 
in  Persia,  and  Peter  to  have  gone  thither  later. 
However  this  may  be,  Edessa,  "the  Oxford  of 
the  East,"  was  the  early  centre,  and  Bardaisan, 
one  of  its  noblest  citizens,  a  believer  and  a  mis- 
sionary, at  the'  beginning  of  the  third  century 
was  eagerly  spreading  the  news  of  the  gospel 
through  the  surrounding  country. 

But  the  hero-missionary  of  Persia  is  Gregory 


12  VIA   CHRISTI 

the  Illuminator  (257-  ?),  the  great  saint  among 
Armenians,  who  went  boldly  into  the  country 
whose  king  had  murdered  his  entire  family,  and 
devoted  himself  successively  to  the  conversion 
of  that  king's  son  and  winning  the  subjects 
over  whom  he  ruled.  Fourteen  years'  impris- 
onment in  a  wretched  dungeon  did  not  abate 
his  zeal  or  purpose  to  win  Tiridates  III,  who 
eventually  became  the  first  Christian  sovereign 
of  the  East.  The  king  became  not  only  a 
Christian,  but  an  evangelist,  and  the  two  went 
out  together,  like  a  second  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
to  convert  Armenia  to  Christ,  baptizing  the 
king's  subjects  by  thousands  as  they  made 
their  "royal  missionary  progress"  through 
the  land. 

In  India.  — Traditionally,  the  Apostle  Thomas, 
in  response  to  the  desire  of  Indians  present  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  became  the  first  mission- 
ary to  the  farther  Orient.  Authentic  history 
states  that  Pantsenus,  principal  of  the  Alexan- 
dria College  and  the  famous  teacher  of  Clement 
and  Origen,  left  Egypt  (180-190)  to  carry 
Christ  to  India,  and  found  already  there  Chris- 
tians who  possessed  a  Hebrew  Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew.  When,  in  the  third  century,  on  ac- 
count of  the  rise  of  the  Sassanian  dynasty  in 
Persia,  the  Red  Sea  route  was  closed  and  mis- 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  13 

sionaries  to  India  were  compelled  to  travel 
through  Persia,  the  Nestorian  church  had  its 
great  opportunity  in  India,  and  Nestorian  mis- 
sions prospered  until  the  conquest  of  India  by 
the  Mohammedans.  From  300,000  to  350,000 
Syrian  Christians  in  India  to-day  attest  to  the 
solid  building  of  the  early  Nestorian  church. 

In  Grreece.  —  A  heavenly  vision,  that  became 
an  earthly  reality,  is  the  story  of  the  carrying 
of  the  gospel  to  Greece.  It  may  be  learned 
from  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  beginning  with  the  ninth  verse. 
Open-air  meetings  are  recorded  in  the  thirteenth 
verse  of  the  same  chapter,  and  their  culmination 
in  Paul's  masterly  oration  on  Mars'  Hill  in 
Athens.  The  Macedonian  missionary  journey 
had  Thessalonica  for  its  centre,  and  was  a  north- 
erly route ;  the  second  had  Corinth  for  its 
centre,  and  was  a  southern  journey.  The  famous 
letter  of  Clement  of  Rome  to  the  church  in 
Corinth  shows  that  Corinth  had  already  become 
a  strong  centre  of  Christianity.  When  Hadrian 
visited  Athens  (125),  a  memorial  for  the  de- 
fence of  Christianity  was  presented  to  him, 
a  copy  of  which  was  considered  so  great  a  find 
in  the  Convent  of  St.  Catherine  on  Mt.  Sinai, 
in  1889.  It  is  known  in  literature  as  "  The 
Apology  of  Aristides,"  an  Athenian  Christian. 


14  VIA   CHRISTI 

One  of  the  early  arguments  for  human  brother- 
hood is  contained  in  the  petition  to  the  imperial 
persecutor  of  Christians. 

In  Italy.  —  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  coun- 
try that  was  to  become  the  great  centre  for  the 
propagation  of  Christianity  retains  no  record  of 
its  planting.  Just  as  in  London  and  New  York 
to-day  may  be  found  representatives  of  every 
faith,  so  in  Rome,  in  the  first  century,  a  genera- 
tion had  not  passed  away  before  there  were  in 
the  city  many  representatives  of  Christianity. 
While  Peter  is  the  reputed  founder  of  missions, 
Paul  is  undoubtedly  the  great  missionary  to 
Rome.  The  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  is  a  kind  of  church  roll-call,  in- 
dicating a  stronghold  of  Christian  sympathy  in 
the  Eternal  City.  Paul  was  so  assured  of  the 
steadfastness  of  these  members  that  he  writes 
of  them,  "  Your  obedience  is  come  abroad 
unto  all  men  "  (Rom.  xvi.  19).  Though  Paul 
came  to  Rome  as  a  prisoner,  the  great  pioneer 
missionary  counted  himself  a  prisoner  to  no 
one  but  his  great  Master,  and  entered  immedi- 
ately upon  a  great  missionary  campaign,  whose 
character  has  been  the  impetus  of  missions 
through  all  time  (Acts  xxviii.  16-31).  No 
wonder  Tacitus  records  that  multitudes  of 
Christians  abode  in  Rome. 


PAUL    TO   CONSTANTINE  15 

In  Spain.  —  "  Whensoever  I  take  my  journey 
into  Spain  I  will  come  to  you,"  wrote  Paul,  the 
missionary.  There  is  no  absolute  evidence  of 
the  fulfilment  of  his  intention,  yet  those  who 
lived  nearest  him  in  time  maintain  that  he 
carried  out  his  purpose.  There  are  traditions 
of  the  Apostle  James  in  Spain.  Clement  of  the 
end  of  the  first  century,  and  Irenseus  of  the 
close  of  the  second  speak  of  the  evangelization 
of  Spain.  In  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
Cyprian,  of  North  Africa,  is  writing  to  a  church 
in  Spain.  From  the  first  it  was  a  land  of 
martyrdom,  centering  in  Saragossa,  whose  rec- 
ords are  given  by  Eusebius,  the  church  histo- 
rian. Up  to  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century 
its  greatest  name  is  Hosius  of  Cordova,  the 
friend  of  Constantine,  and  probably  the  presi- 
dent of  the  great  Council  of  Nictea  in  325. 

In  France. —  Southeast  France,  with  Lyons 
for  the  central  city  and  Irenseus  (135?-202)  for 
the  central  name,  is  the  region  of  the  begin- 
ning of  the  gospel  in  France.  Irengeus  may 
be  called  the  spiritual  grandson  of  John,  the 
beloved  disciple,  for  he  was  a  disciple  of  Poly- 
carp,  as  Polycarp  was  of  John.  His  education 
in  the  Greek  mythology  of  Asia  Minor,  his 
work,  "Against  Heresies,"  and  his  skill  in 
learning  the  language  of  the  people  to  whom 


16  VIA   CHEISTI 

he  became  a  missionary  (the  Celtic),  show  him 
to  be  a  man  of  as  rich  intellectual,  as  spiritual, 
endowment.  But  all  that  he  possessed  was 
brought  to  bear  on  the  one  thought  —  the 
necessity  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  all  parts 
of  the  earth.  A  single  quotation  illustrates 
his  beautiful  tolerance  :  "  Through  variety  in 
usages  our  oneness  in  faith  shines  with  only 
the  more  brightness." 

Before  the  end  of  the  second  century  many  a 
disciple  in  France  had  testified  to  the  sound- 
ness of  his  faith,  among  whom  was  the  young 
Symphorian  (200?),  whose  mother  cried  out 
to  him  as  he  went  to  his  martyrdom  :  "  My 
son,  be  not  afraid ;  it  is  not  thy  life  they  will 
take  away  this  day.  They  will  only  change  it 
for  the  better "  —  a  spiritualized  form  of  the 
old  story  of  the  Spartan  mother  of  elder  time. 

We  have  no  more  authentic  record  of  martyr- 
dom than  that  of  the  Christians  in  southeast 
France,  of  whom  many  a  sainted  name  is 
preserved. 

In  the  British  Isles.  —  Much  legend  and  tra- 
dition enters  into  the  story  of  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  into  the  British  Isles,  a  story 
that  begins  before  the  Celts  were  driven  out 
and  the  Anglo-Saxons  came  into  England  —  a 
period  "  when  all  our  fathers  worshipped  stocks 


PAUL    TO   CONSTANTINE  17 

and  stones."  When  the  Roman  legions  entered 
Britain  in  73  a.d.  they  must  have  carried  in 
their  ranks  here  and  there  Christian  believers  ; 
but  it  was  the  Roman  idolatry  that  first  suc- 
ceeded the  Druidism  of  the  Britons,  the  latter 
a  strange  combination  of  bloody  rites  and  open- 
air  worship,  whose  altar  stones  are  still  left  in 
various  portions  of  England,  notably  at  Stone- 
henge.  Roman  temples,  theatres,  and  mytho- 
logical imagery  preceded  by  many  centuries  the 
foundation  of  Christian  schools  and  churches, 
and  with  these  entered  all  the  gross  immorali- 
ties which  a  pagan  religion,  devoid  of  purifying 
influences,  could  represent.  The  earliest  de- 
fender of  British  Christianity  dates  from  the 
fourth  century. 

The  Social  Standing  of  Early  Christians.  — 
The  unpopularity  of  Christian  citizens  was  so 
great  that  for  centuries  portions  of  Rome 
were  undermined  to  form  catacombs  where  liv- 
ing Christians  held  their  meetings  in  days  of 
persecution,  and  the  bodies  of  the  dead  were 
laid  away,  to  become  in  modern  times  invalu- 
able statistics  of  the  size  and  strength  of  the 
Christian  church  in  Rome  for  the  first  three 
centuries.  All  classes  belonged  to  this  church, 
from  Caesar's  household  (Phil.  iv.  22),  of  Paul's 
day,  to  the  commonest  slaves,  who  often  were 


18  VIA   CHBISTI 

learned  Greeks  brought  captives  to  Rome. 
Sometimes  we  find  imperial  women,  like  Seve- 
rina  of  the  third  century,  interested  in  this  new 
religion,  and  so  impressed  was  the  Emperor 
Alexander  Severus  (222-235)  with  the  moral 
character  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  his  statue  was 
included  in  his  collection  of  great  men.  Among 
the  men  of  distinction  in  the  early  church  were 
Sergius  Paulus,  proconsul  of  Cyprus  ;  Flavins 
Clement,  an  ex-consul  ;  the  chief  officers  of 
Asia  at  Ephesus  ;  Erastus,  the  public  treasurer 
of  Corinth  ;  Publius,  the  Roman  governor  of 
Malta  ;  Dionysius  of  the  Council  of  Areopa- 
gus ;  the  centurion  Cornelius,  at  Csesarea ; 
Luke,  the  physician ;  Crispus,  ruler  of  the  Jew- 
ish synagogue  at  Corinth ;  and  among  the 
Jews,  members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  Pharisees, 
and  priests.  But  the  early  church  in  Italy 
was  much  oftener  persecuted  than  befriended. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Christian  martyrs 
sealed  their  faith  with  their  blood,  among 
whom  the  most  noted  are  Paul,  Ignatius,  Poly- 
carp,  and  Justin  Martyr  the  great  defender 
of  the  faith  in  the  second  century. 

Persecutions  of  Christians  under  the  Roman 
Emperors.  —  The  early  church  was  often  under 
a  hot  fire  of  persecution,  the  first  and  last, 
under  Nero  and  Diocletian  respectively  being 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  19 

the  most  severe.  The  account  of  one  suggests 
in  general  the  character  of  the  many.  Nero, 
who  had  angered  the  Roman  people  beyond 
reconciliation  by  setting  fire  to  the  city, 
to  escape  the  fury  of  the  populace  charged 
the  Roman  Christians  with  the  crime.  The 
historian  Tacitus  records  the  terrible  tragedy 
as  follows :  "  Christus,  the  founder  of  that 
name,  was  put  to  death  as  a  criminal  by 
Pontius  Pilate,  procurator  of  Judea,  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius ;  but  the  pernicious  supersti- 
tion, repressed  for  a  time,  broke  out  again,  not 
only  through  Judea,  where  the  mischief  origi- 
nated, but  through  the  city  of  Rome  also,  whither 
all  things  horrible  and  disgraceful  flow,  from 
all  quarters,  as  to  a  common  receptacle,  and 
where  they  are  encouraged.  Accordingly, 
first  those  were  seized  who  confessed  they  were 
Christians ;  next,  on  their  information,  a  vast 
multitude  was  convicted,  not  so  much  on  the 
charge  of  burning  the  city  as  of  1  .ting  the 
human  race.  And  in  their  deaths  they  were 
also  made  the  subject  of  sport,  for  they  were 
covered  with  the  hides  of  wild  beasts,  and  wor- 
ried to  death  by  dogs,  or  nailed  to  crosses,  or 
set  fire  to,  and  when  day  declined,  burned  to 
serve  for  nocturnal  lights.  Nero  offered  his 
own  gardens  for  that  spectacle,  and  exhibited  a 


20  VIA   CHRISTI 

Circensian  game,  indiscriminately  mingling 
with  the  common  people  in  the  habit  of  a 
charioteer  or  else  standing  in  his  chariot. 
Whence  a  feeling  of  compassion  arose  toward 
the  suiferers,  though  guilty  and  deserving  to 
be  made  examples  of  by  capital  punishment, 
because  they  seemed  not  to  be  cut  off  for  the 
public  good,  but  victims  to  the  ferocity  of  one 
man." 

In  the  catacombs  of  St.  Sebastian  in  Rome 
rest  the  bodies  of  174,000  martyrs,  and  these 
are  by  no  means  all  who  loved  their  Master  even 
unto  death.  The  method,  during  the  Roman 
persecutions,  for  making  Christians  recant  was 
not  unlike  that  used  in  China  by  the  Boxers 
in  1900.  Victims  were  asked  to  give  up  their 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  offer  sacrifice  to 
the  heathen  gods. 


PAUL   TO  CONSTANTINE  21 

SELECTIONS   FROM   THE   PERIOD 
Eakly  Missionary  Sermons  to  Idolaters 


"Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all 
things  ye  are  too  superstitious.  For  as  I  passed 
by,  and  beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar 
with  this  inscription.  To  the  Unknown  God. 
Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him 
declare  I  unto  you. 

"  God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things 
therein,  seeing  that  he  is  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth,  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands ; 
neither  is  he  worshipped  with  men's  hands,  as 
though  he  needed  anything,  seeing  he  giveth  to 
all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things  ;  and  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath 
determined  the  times  before  appointed,  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitation;  that  they  should 
seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after 
him,  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us :  for  in  him  we  live,  and  move, 
and  have  our  being ;  as  certain  also  of  your  own 
poets  have  said.  For  we  are  also  his  offspring. 

"  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of 


22  VIA   CHRISTI 

God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead 
is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by 
art  and  man's  device.  And  the  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  command- 
eth  all  men  every  where  to  repent :  because  he 
hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that 
man  whom  he  hath  ordained;  whereof  he  hath 
given  assurance  unto  all  men^  in  that  he 
hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."  —  Paul,  the 
Apostle  (^-QQ'). 

II 

"  Your  Olympian  Jove,  the  image  of  an 
image,  greatly  out  of  harmony  with  truth,  is 
the  senseless  work  of  Attic  hands.  For  the 
image  of  God  is  his  Word,  the  genuine  Son  of 
Mind,  the  Divine  Word,  the  archetypal  light  of 
light ;  and  the  image  of  the  Word  is  the  true 
man,  the  mind  which  is  in  man,  who  is  there- 
fore said  to  have  been  made  in  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God,  assimilated  to  the  Divine 
Word  in  the  affections  of  the  soul  and  there- 
fore rational ;  but  effigies  sculptured  in  human 
form,  the  earthly  image  of  that  part  of  man 
which  is  visible  and  earth-born,  are  but  a  per- 
ishable impress  of  humanity,  manifestly  wide 
of  the  truth.     That  life  then,  which  is  occu- 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  23 

pied  with  so  much  earnestness  about  matter, 
seems  to  me  to  be  nothing  else  than  full  of 
insanity.   .  .  . 

"As,  then,  we  do  not  compel  the  horse  to 
plough,  or  the  bull  to  hunt,  but  set  each  animal 
to  that  for  which  it  is  by  nature  fitted;  so, 
placing  our  finger  on  what  is  man's  peculiar 
and  distinguishing  characteristic  above  other 
creatures,  we  invite  him  —  born,  as  he  is,  for 
the  contemplation  of  heaven,  and  being,  as  he 
is,  a  truly  heavenly  plant  —  to  the  knowledge 
of  God,  counselling  him  to  furnish  himself  with 
what  is  his  sufficient  provision  for  eternity, 
namely,  piety.  Practice  husbandry,  we  say,  if 
you  are  a  husbandman  ;  but  while  you  till  your 
fields,  know  God.  Sail  the  sea,  you  who  are 
devoted  to  navigation,  yet  call  the  whilst  on 
the  heavenly  Pilot.  Has  knowledge  taken 
hold  of  you  while  engaged  in  military  service  ? 
Listen  to  the  commander  who  orders  what  is 
right.  As  those,  then,  who  have  been  over- 
powered by  sleep  and  drunkenness,  do  ye 
awake  ;  and,  using  your  eyes  a  little,  consider 
what  mean  those  stones  that  you  worship,  and 
the  expenditure  you  frivolously  lavish  on  the 
matter.   .  .   . 

"  For  just  as,  had  the  sun  not  been  in  exist- 
ence, night  would  have  brooded  over  the  uni- 


24  VIA   CHRISTI 

verse  notwithstanding  the  other  luminaries  of 
heaven  ;  so,  had  we  not  known  the  Word,  and 
been  illuminated  by  Him,  we  should  have  been 
nowise  different  from  fowls  that  are  being  fed, 
fattened  in  darkness  and  nourished  for  death. 
Let  us  then  admit  the  light,  that  we  may  admit 
God;  let  us  admit  the  light,  and  become  dis- 
ciples to  the  Lord."—  Clement  (?-220). 


Prayers 


"  O  God,  who  art  the  unsearchable  abyss  of 
peace,  the  ineffable  sea  of  love,  the  fountain  of 
blessings,  and  the  bestower  of  affection,  who 
sendest  peace  to  those  that  receive  it ;  open  to 
us  this  day  the  sea  of  thy  love,  and  water  us 
with  plenteous  streams  from  the  riches  of  thy 
grace.  Make  us  children  of  quietness  and 
heirs  of  peace.  Enkindle  in  us  the  fire  of  thy 
love  ;  strengthen  our  weakness  by  thy  power  ; 
bind  us  closely  to  thee  and  to  each  other,  in  one 
firm  and  indissoluble  bond  of  unity.  Amen." 
—  Syrian  Clementine  Liturgy  (second  century). 

II 

"  We  give  thee  thanks,  yea,  more  than  thanks, 
O  Lord  our  God,  for  all  thy  goodness   at  all 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  25 

times  and  in  all  places,  because  thou  hast 
shielded,  rescued,  helped,  and  guided  us  all  the 
days  of  our  lives,  and  brought  us  unto  this 
hour.  We  pray  and  beseech  thee,  merciful 
God,  to  grant  in  thy  goodness  that  we  may 
spend  this  day,  and  all  the  time  of  our  lives, 
without  sin,  in  fulness  of  joy,  holiness,  and  rev- 
erence of  thee.  But  drive  away  from  us,  O 
Lord,  all  envy,  all  fear,  and  all  temptations. 
Bestow  upon  us  what  is  good  and  meet.  What- 
ever sin  we  commit  in  thought,  word,  or  deed, 
do  thou  in  thy  goodness  and  mercy  be  pleased 
to  pardon.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
but  deliver  us  from  evil,  through  the  grace, 
mercy,  and  love  of  thine  only  begotten  Son. 
AmQn:'— Liturgy  of  Mark  (175-254). 

Ill 

"  O  God  of  love,  who  hast  given  a  new  com- 
mandment, through  thine  only  begotten  Son,  that 
we  should  love  one  another,  even  as  thou  didst 
love  us,  the  unworthy  and  the  wandering,  and 
gavest  thy  Beloved  Son  for  our  life  and  salva- 
tion ;  we  pray  thee.  Lord,  give  to  us,  thy  ser- 
vants, in  all  time  of  our  life  on  the  earth,  a 
mind  forgetful  of  past  ill-will,  a  pure  conscience 
and  sincere  thoughts,  and  a  heart  to  love  our 
brethren.  Amen."  —  Coptic  Liturgy  of  Cyril 
(c.  270). 


26  VIA   CHRISTI 

Hymns 

I 

The  earliest  known  Christian  hymn. 

Shepherd  of  tender  youth, 
Guiding  in  love  and  truth 

Through  devious  ways ; 
Christ  our  triumphant  King, 
We  come  thy  name  to  sing  ; 
Hither  our  children  bring 

To  shout  thy  praise. 

Thou  art  our  holy  Lord, 
The  all-subduing  Word, 

Healer  of  strife  ; 
Thou  didst  thyself  abase, 
That  from  Sin's  deep  disgrace 
Thou  mightest  save  our  race. 

And  give  us  life. 

Thou  art  the  great  High  Priest, 
Thou  hast  prepared  the  feast 

Of  heavenly  love  ; 
While  in  our  mortal  pain 
None  calls  on  thee  in  vain ; 
Help  thou  dost  not  disdain, 

Help  from  above. 


PAUL    TO   CONSTANTINE  27 

Ever  be  thou  our  Guide, 
Our  Shepherd  and  our  Pride, 

Our  Staff  and  Song  ; 
Jesus,  thou  Christ  of  God, 
By  thy  perennial  Word 
Lead  us  where  thou  hast  trod, 

Make  our  faith  strong. 

So  now,  and  till  we  die, 
Sound  we  thy  praises  high, 

And  joyful  sing ; 
Infants  and  the  glad  throng. 
Who  to  thy  Church  belong. 
Unite  to  swell  the  song. 

To  Christ  our  King. 

—  Attributed  to  Clement  of  Alexandria   (?-220). 
Translated  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter. 

II 

Gloria  in  Uxeelsis 

Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  and  on  earth  peace, 

good-will  toward  men. 
We  praise  thee,  we  bless  thee,  we  worship  thee, 

we  glorify  thee,  we  give  thanks  to  thee  for 

thy  great  glory. 

O  Lord  God,  heavenly  king,  God  the  Father 
Almighty  ! 


28  VIA   CHRISTI 

O  Lord,  the  only-begotten  Son  Jesus  Christ,  O 

Lord  God,  Lamb  of  God,  Son  of  the  Father, 
That  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  have 

mercy  upon  us. 
Thou  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 

have  mercy  upon  us. 
Thou  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world, 

receive  our  prayer. 
Thou  that  sittest  at  the  right  hand  of  God  the 

Father,  have  mercy  upon  us. 

For  thou  only  art  holy,  thou  only  art  the  Lord. 
Thou  only,  O  Christ,  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  art 

most  high  in  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. 

Amen. 

—  Composed  in  part  during  this  period. 


Great  Words  of  Great  Christians 

"  God's  grain  of  wheat  am  I,  to  be  ground  by 
the  teeth  of  wild  beasts,  that  I  may  be  turned 
into  the  pure  bread  of  God."  —  Ignatius  (30- 
117). 

*'  It  is  not  possible  that  a  man  should  fully 
comprehend  the  government  of  God.  I  say, 
however,  concerning  this  mover  of  the  world, 
that  he  is  God  of  all,  who  made  all  things  for 
the  sake  of  mankind.     And  it  seems  to  me  that 


PAUL   TO  CONSTANTINE  29 

this  is  reasonable,  that  one  should  fear  God  and 
should  not  oppress  man." — From  Aristides' 
Memorial  to  Hadrian  (124). 

"  Fourscore  and  six  years  have  I  served  him, 
and  he  has  done  me  no  wrong.  How  then  can 
I  speak  evil  of  my  King,  who  saved  me  ? " 
—  PoLYCARP,  at  his  martyrdom  (166). 

"  There  is  no  people,  Greek  or  barbarian,  or 
of  any  other  race,  by  whatsoever  appellation  or 
manners  they  may  be  distinguished,  however 
ignorant  of  art  and  agriculture,  whether  they 
dwell  in  tents  or  wander  about  in  covered  wagons, 
among  whom  prayers  and  thanksgivings  are  not 
offered,  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus,  to 
the  E'ather  and  Creator  of  all  things." — Justin 
Martyr  (103-165). 

"  Since,  then,  you  are  universally  termed  pious 
and  philosophers  and  guardians  of  justice  and 
lovers  of  learning,  it  shall  now  be  seen  whether 
you  are  indeed  such.  For  we  have  not  come  to 
flatter  you  by  these  writings  of  ours,  nor  to  seek 
to  please  by  our  address  ;  but  to  make  our 
claim  to  be  judged  after  a  strict  and  search- 
ing inquiry  ;  so  that  neither  by  prejudice  nor 
desire  of  popularity  from  the  superstitious,  nor 
by  any  unthinking  impulse  of  zeal,  nor  by  that 
evil  report  which  has  so  long  kept  possession  of 
your  minds,  you  may  be  urged  to  give  a  deci- 


30  VIA   CHRISTI 

sion  against  yourselves.  For  it  is  our  maxim 
that  we  can  suffer  harm  from  none,  unless  we 
be  convicted  as  doers  of  evil,  or  proved  to  be 
wicked.  You  may,  indeed,  slay  us,  but  hurt  us 
you  cannot.  But,  lest  any  should  say  that  this 
is  a  senseless  and  rash  assertion,  I  entreat  that 
the  charges  against  us  may  be  examined  ;  and, 
if  they  be  substantiated,  let  us  be  punished  as  is 
right.  But  if  no  man  can  convict  us  of  any 
crime,  true  reason  does  not  allow  you  through  a 
wicked  report  to  wrong  the  innocent,  or  rather 
yourselves,  who  are  disposed  to  direct  affairs 
not  by  judgment,  but  by  passion."  —  From  Jus- 
tin Martyr^s  Appeal  to  the  Emperors  (in  the 
reign  of  Antoninus  Pius,  138-161). 

"  What  the  soul  is  in  the  body,  that  are 
Christians  in  the  world.  The  soul  is  diffused 
through  all  the  members  of  the  body.  Christians 
are  scattered  through  all  the  cities  of  the  world. 
The  soul  dwells  in  the  body,  yet  is  not  of  the 
body ;  so  Christians  dwell  in  the  world,  yet  are 
not  of  the  world.  The  soul  is  imprisoned  in 
the  body,  yet  it  holds  the  body  together;  so 
Christians  are  confined  in  this  world  as  in  a 
prison,  yet  they  hold  the  world  together."  — 
Epistle  to  Biognetus. 

''  We  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  yet  we 
already  fill  your    cities,  islands,    camps,    your 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  31 

palace,  senate,  and  forum.  We  have  left  you 
only  your  temples."  —  Tertulliak  (160-240). 

"  In  all  Greece  and  in  all  barbarous  races 
within  our  world,  there  are  tens  of  thousands 
who  have  left  their  national  laws  and  cus- 
tomary gods  for  the  law  of  Moses  and  the 
word  of  Jesus  Christ ;  though  to  adhere  to 
that  law  is  to  incur  the  hatred  of  idolaters,  and 
to  have  embraced  that  word  is  to  incur  the  risk 
of  death  as  well.  And  considering  how,  in  a 
few  years  and  with  no  great  store  of  teachers, 
in  spite  of  the  attacks  which  have  cost  us  life 
and  property,  the  preaching  of  that  word  has 
found  its  way  into  every  part  of  the  world,  so 
that  Greeks  and  barbarians,  wise  and  unwise, 
adhere  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  —  doubtless  it 
is  a  work  greater  than  any  work  of  man." 
—  Origen  (185-251). 

"  Alongside  of  him  (Quadratus)  there  flour- 
ished at  that  time  many  other  successors  of  the 
apostles,  who,  admirable  disciples  of  those 
great  men,  reared  the  edifice  on  the  founda- 
tions which  they  laid,  continuing  the  work  of 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  scattering  abundantly 
over  the  whole  earth  the  wholesome  seed  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom.  For  a  very  large  number 
of  his  disciples,  carried  away  by  fervent  love 
of  the  truth  which  the   divine  word  had  re- 


32  VIA   CHRISTI 

vealed  to  them,  fulfilled  the  command  of  the 
Saviour  to  divide  their  goods  among  the  poor. 
Then,  taking  leave  of  their  country,  they  filled 
the  office  of  evangelists,  coveting  eagerly  to 
preach  Christ,  and  to  carry  the  glad  tidings 
of  God  to  those  who  had  not  yet  heard  the 
word  of  faith.  And  after  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  the  faith  in  some  remote  and  barbarous 
countries,  establishing  pastors  among  them,  and 
confiding  to  them  the  care  of  those  young 
settlements,  without  stopping  longer  they  has- 
tened on  to  other  nations,  attended  by  the  grace 
and  virtue  of  God."  — Eusebius  (266-340). 


Great  Words  of  Great  Pagans 

"  All  that  rabble  of  gods  which  the  supersti- 
tions of  ages  have  heaped  up  we  shall  adore  in 
such  a  way  as  to  remember  that  their  worship 
belongs  rather  to  custom  than  to  reality." 

''  We  have  all  sinned  —  some  grievously, 
others  more  lightly,  some  purposely,  others  ac- 
cidentally impelled  or  led  astray,  and  not  only 
have  we  transgressed,  we  shall  continue  to  do 
so  till  the  end  of  life." 

"The  aim  of  all  philosophy  is  to  despise 
life." 


PAUL    TO   CONSTANTINE  33 

"Ah,  if  one  only  might  have  a  guide  to 
truth  !  "  —  Seneca  (5  B.C.-65  a.d.). 

"  Condemn  what  thou  art  doing ;  and  when 
thou  hast  condemned  it,  do  not  despair  of 
thyself." 

"  What  will  be  the  punishment  ?  Perhaps 
nothing  else  than  not  having  done  thy  duty  ; 
thou  wilt  lose  the  character  of  fidelity,  modesty, 
propriety.  Do  not  look  for  greater  penalties 
than  these." 

"  If  thou  wouldst  make  anything  a  habit,  do 
it ;  if  thou  wouldst  not  make  it  a  habit,  do  not 
do  it."  —  Epictetus  (60-     ?). 

"  For  we  are  made  for  cooperation,  like  feet, 
like  hands,  like  eyelids." 

"  The  soul  does  violence  to  itself  when  it  is 
overpowered  by  pleasure  or  by  pain ;  when  it 
plays  a  part  and  does  anything  insincerely  or 
untruly  ;  when  it  allows  any  act  of  its  own  and 
any  movement  to  be  without  an  aim.  Every- 
thing which  belongs  to  the  body  is  a  stream, 
and  what  belongs  to  the  soul  is  a  dream  and 
vapour,  and  life  is  a  warfare  and  a  stranger's 
sojourn,  and  after-fame  is  oblivion." 

"  What  then  is  that  which  is  able  to  conduct 
a  man  ?  " 

"  It  consists  in  keeping  the  spirit  within  free 
from  violence  and  unharmed,  superior  to  pains 


34  VIA   CHRISTI 

and  pleasures,  doing  nothing  without  a  pur- 
pose, nor  yet  falsely  and  with  hypocrisy,  not 
feeling  the  need  of  another  man's  doing  or  not 
doing  anything." 

"  Openness  is  the  sweet  fresh  air  of  our 
moral  life." 

"  Suppose  any  man  should  despise  me  ?  Let 
him  look  to  that  himself,  but  I  will  look  to 
this,  that  I  be  not  discovered  doing  or  saying 
anything  deserving  that  contempt."  —  Marcus 
AURELIUS  (121-180). 

"  We  must  lay  hold  of  the  best  human  opin- 
ion in  order  that,  borne  by  it  as  on  a  raft,  we 
may  sail  over  the  dangerous  sea  of  life,  unless 
we  can  find  a  stronger  boat,  or  some  word  of 
God,  which  will  more  surely  and  safely  carry 
us." 

"If  all  the  inhabitants  of  Asia,  Europe, 
Africa,  Greeks  and  barbarians,  to  the  uttermost 
ends  of  the  earth,  could  have  a  common  religion, 
it  would  be  a  good  thing,  but  any  one  who  thinks 
this  possible  knows  nothing."  —  Celsus  (^second 
century^  ^  an  early  opponent  of  Christianity. 


PAUL   TO   CONSTANTINE  35 


THEMES   FOR   STUDY  OR  DISCUSSION 

I.  The  Times  of  the  Roman  Emperors. 

11.  The  Early  Apologists. 

III.  Justin  Martyr. 

IV.  The  Alexandrian  School  of  Theology. 

V.   Music  as  a  Gospelizing  Agency,  beginning  with 
Ignatius. 
IV.   Were  City  or  Country  Missions  the  More  Fruitful 
in  the  Early  Days  of  Christianity  ? 
VII.    Early  Women  Martyrs  :  (a)  Blandina ;  (b)  Perpetua. 
VIII.   Early  Translations  of  the  Scriptures. 
IX.    Gregory  the  Thaumaturgist. 
X.   The  Catacombs  of  Rome. 
XL   Early  Christian  Persecutions. 

XII.  The  Social  Upheaval  caused  by  Early  Century 
Christians  compared  with  that  of  the  Social- 
ists of  the  Present  Time. 


BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE 

Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."     (For  all 

but  V,  XII.) 
Bliss's  "  Encyclopedia  of  Missions."    (General  Reference.) 
Bryce's  "  Holy  Roman  Empire."     (For  I,  XI,  XII.) 
Fisher's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."     (For  all 

but  V,  XII.) 
Hurst's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."     (For  all  but 

III,  VI,  XII.) 

Julian's  "  Hymnology."     (For  V.) 

Lanciani's  "  Pagan  and  Christian  Rome."     (For  X.) 

Lippincott's  "  Biographical  Dictionary."     (For  I,  II,  III, 

IV,  VII,  IX,  XII.) 

Milman's  "  Latin  Christianity,"  Vol.  I.     (For  I,  II,  III, 
XI.) 


36  VIA   CHRISTI 

Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal." 

(For  II,  III,  IV,  VII,  IX.) 
Plummer's  ''  Church  of  the  Early  Fathers."     (For  II,  III, 

IV,  XL) 
Ramsay's  "  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire."      (For  II, 

III,  VII,  XI,  XII.) 

Smith's  "  Short  History  of  Missions."     (For  I,  II,  III, 

IV,  VI.) 

Uhlhorn's   "  Conflict  of   Christianity  and   Heathenism." 

(For  I,  II,  III,  IV,  XL) 
White's  "  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries."     (For  I,  II,  III, 

VIII,  X,  XL) 


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CHAPTER   II 

CONSTANTINE    TO    ChARLEMAGNE 

From  the  Christianization  of  the   Roman  Empire   to  the 
Establishment  of  the  Christian  Empire   of  the  West 

Fourth  to  the  Ninth  Century 

The  Triumph  of  Christianity  —  Central  Eu- 
rope and  Asia  had  for  many  years  been  over- 
crowded, one  people  pressing  upon  another  and 
the  Germanic  tribes  pushing  always  toward  the 
south.  While  the  Goths  were  clamorous  to 
enter  the  Roman  Empire,  the  Persians  threat- 
ened from  the  southeast.  Uhlhorn  tells  us  that 
it  was  God's  purpose  that  the  Empire  should  not 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans  until  it  had 
become  Christianized  and  thus  made  capable  of 
instructing  its  conquerors  in  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. Bryce  says  that  the  consolidation  of 
Roman  and  Goth  under  one  wise  government 
would  have  preserved  Italy  hundreds  of  years. 
As  the  Empire  fell  to  pieces  and  new  kingdoms 
began  to  start,  there  was  still  left  the  greatest 
thing  in  the  world,  the  Christian  church,  a 
common  bond. 

39 


40  VIA   CHRISTI 

When  Constantine,  on  the  death  of  his  father 
in  Britain  (306),  was  proclaimed  emperor  of 
Rome,  such  was  the  disturbed  state  of  the  Em- 
pire that  he  was  compelled  to  assert  his  imperial 
superiority  by  winning  the  crown  over  five  ri- 
vals. The  story  told  by  Eusebius,  the  historian, 
who  maintained  that  he  had  it  from  the  emper- 
or's own  lips,  is  that  when  Constantine,  harassed 
and  worn,  was  marching  against  Maxentius,  one 
of  his  competitors,  he  saw  a  wonderful  cross  on 
the  sky  above  the  sun  at  high  noon,  inscribed, 
"  In  hoc  vince  !  "  (By  this,  conquer  ! )  Hastily 
preparing  the  standard  of  the  cross,  he  marched 
on  to  a  great  victory,  which  was  succeeded  by 
the  proclamation  of  Christianity  as  the  state 
religion,  in  the  famous  edict  of  Milan,  313. 

The  persecutions  of  Christians  did  not  en- 
tirely end,  and  only  about  a  twentieth  of  the 
Roman  Empire  became  Christian.  Paganism 
was  not  prohibited,  but  beside  pagan  temples 
rose  Christian  churches  equally  beautiful  in 
architecture,  and  Sunday  was  observed  by  the 
court. 

Heathenism,  with  its  outward  form  of  temples 
and  gods,  continued  in  Athens  up  to  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century,  the  school  of  Athens,  con- 
servative, like  most  schools,  holding  out  till  it 
was   suppressed    by   an   edict   of   Justinian    I, 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         41 

529.  Mountain  peasants  in  the  Peloponnesus 
retained  their  mythological  gods  till  the  ninth 
century. 

About  328  the  seat  of  government  was 
removed  to  Constantinople,  and  at  that  period 
it  was  estimated  that  the  five  hundred  thousand 
Christians  of  the  close  of  the  first  century  had 
become  ten  millions.  The  message  of  the  gos- 
pel was  being  carried  swiftly  from  one  tongue 
to  another,  to  the  extent  that  Theoderet  says  a 
little  later :  "  Every  country  that  is  under  the 
sun  is  full  of  these  words,  and  the  Hebrew 
tongue  is  turned  not  only  into  the  language 
of  the  Grecians,  but  also  of  the  Romans,  and 
Egyptians,  and  Persians,  and  Indians,  and 
Armenians,  and  Scythians,  and  Sauromatians, 
and,  briefly,  into  all  the  languages  that  any 
nation  useth." 

The  Romans  knew  no  better  way  of  conquer- 
ing than  by  destroying  the  Christians,  and 
they  soon  found  it  useless  to  continue  to  fight 
a  people  that  gloried  in  martyrdom  ;  yet  noth- 
ing more  unequal  could  be  imagined  than  the 
little  company  of  Christians  at  Pentecost,  with 
the  memory  of  Christ's  words  ringing  in  their 
ears,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world " ;  "  Go 
ye  and  disciple  all  nations,"  set  to  conquer 
more  than  a  hundred   millions  of   people,  an 


42  VIA   CHRISTI 

empire  of  four  or  five  thousand  great  cities, 
intrenched  in  centuries  of  solid  government, 
with  a  polytheistic  religion  woven  into  its 
entire  political,  social,  domestic,  and  religious 
life.  With  the  proclamation  of  Constantine 
we  may  record  the  first  great  national  triumph 
of  Christianity. 

The  Nestorian  Ohurch.  —  As  Antioch  is  re- 
membered as  the  starting-point  of  missions  in 
the  west,  so  must  Edessa  be  considered  as  a 
significant  centre  in  the  planting  of  Chris- 
tianity toward  the  east.  The  story  of  the 
growth  of  the  Christian  church  under  the 
Nestorians  is  full  of  incident  and  heroism. 
The  church  itself  rose  from  a  famous  contro- 
versy on  the  human  and  divine  nature  in 
Christ,  involving  other  related  and  unrelated 
subjects,  with  the  result  that  in  an  ecclesiastical 
council  at  Ephesus,  with  Cyril,  archbishop  of 
Alexandria,  and  his  following,  arrayed  against 
Nestorius,  archbishop  of  Constantinople,  and 
his  adherents,  it  was  decided,  June  22,  431 
A.D.,  to  exile  the  Constantinople  leader. 

Nestorius  fled  into  Persia  with  a  large  fol- 
lowing, leaving  Edessa  for  Nisibis,  where  he 
founded  a  missionary  training-school.  For 
five  centuries,  culminating  in  the  eleventh, 
this   church   was   not   only  a  source  of  great 


CONSTANTINE   TO   CHARLEMAGNE         43 

influence,  but  famous  for  its  missionary  zeal. 
The  Nestorians  underwent  bitter  persecution, 
ever  the  test  of  a  great  faith,  the  most  severe 
under  Shapur  II  (Sapor),  king  of  Persia,  who 
was  said  in  the  fourth  century  to  have  put 
sixteen  thousand  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  to 
death,  to  say  nothing  of  numberless  thousands 
of  unrecorded  followers.  But  nothing  quenched 
the  zeal  or  perseverance  of  this  missionary 
church,  which  rushed  fearlessly  on,  where 
Greeks  and  Romans  had  stopped,  among  the 
Tatar  tribes.  Their  missions  were  established 
in  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  among  the  Tatar  tribes 
of  Central  Asia,  in  India,  China,  and  a  portion  of 
Africa.  They  remained  completely  separated 
from  other  bodies  of  Christians,  especially  after 
the  council  held  at  Seleucia  in  499.  The  Prot- 
estants of  Persia  to-day  call  themselves  the  Nes- 
torian  church. 

In  Persia.  —  The  story  of  the  message  of  the 
gospel  in  Persia,  we  have  seen,  is  largely  inter- 
mingled with  tradition.  The  earlier  Christian 
teaching  had  constantly  met  with  the  suspicion 
that  here  was  not  only  the  foe  of  Zoroastrian- 
ism,  but  possibly  of  their  freedom  from  the 
hard  hand  of  the  Roman  government.  Hence, 
when  Nestorian  teaching  centred  in  Persia,  it 
had  a  wide  opportunity,  for  had  not  the  Nes- 


44  VIA   CHRISTI 

torians  shown  by  their  separation  from  the 
Greek  church  that  there  was  no  imperial  mean- 
ing in  their  message  ?  The  Nestorians  soon 
won  fame  far  exceeding  that  of  the  former 
Roman  missionaries,  and  Persia,  once  the  sub- 
ject of  missionary  endeavor,  becomes  from  the 
close  of  the  fifth  century  a  strategic  centre  of 
missionary  effort.  The  Persian  Empire  as  such 
ceased  to  exist  637-651. 

The  Teutons.  —  We  know  the  great  central 
families  of  Europe  by  the  terms  "  Gothic,"  ''  Ger- 
manic," and  "Teutonic."  The  leading  tribes 
were  Goths,  Franks,  Vandals,  Burgundians, 
Lombards,  Saxons,  Angles,  and  Scandinavians. 
When  the  Romans  had  conquered  the  world, 
their  conquest  included  the  tribes  of  the  north, 
by  whom  they  were  destined  to  be  conquered. 

After  the  Emperor  Constantine  had  removed 
the  capital  (328)  from  Rome  to  Byzantium, 
there  was  a  distinct  cleavage  of  the  Roman 
Empire  into  eastern  and  western.  With  divi- 
sion came  weakness,  and  the  northern  barbari- 
ans, as  the  Teutonic  or  Gothic  tribes  were 
called,  soon  invaded  the  country  that  had  kept 
them  at  bay  only  by  superior  force. 

Charles  Kingsley  says  that  the  invasion  of 
Rome  by  the  Teutons  was  the  most  vast  and 
important  campaign  the  world  has  ever  seen  — 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE        45 

a  campaign  that  lasted  two  hundred  years. 
The  Romans  held  Italy,  Switzerland,  Turkey, 
Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Egypt,  Northern 
Africa,  Spain,  France,  Britain;  the  Teutons 
the  country  between  the  Danube  and  the 
Rhine,  an  admirable  military  position,  with 
on  one  side  the  Black  Sea  and  on  the  other 
the  North. 

The  Goths  in  turn  were  pressed  by  the  Huns, 
who  were  driven  on  from  Eastern  Asia  in  this 
great  moving  of  the  nations,  called  in  history 
the  Great  Migrations.  While  the  Goths,  and 
afterward  (400-415)  the  Huns,  led  by  Alaric, 
an  early  Napoleon,  pressed  into  Italy,  other 
Teutonic  tribes  moved  into  Gaul  (France),  and 
from  Gaul  into  Spain,  until  the  peninsula  was 
filled  by  Franks,  Burgundians,  and  Goths  in 
the  former  regions,  and  Vandals  and  Sueves  in 
the  latter.  It  looked  as  if  the  recently  Chris- 
tianized Roman  Empire  might  again  become 
pagan  by  a  strange  mingling  of  the  gods  of 
southern  and  northern  mythology. 

In  France.  —  With  the  migrations  from  the 
north,  many  Teutonic  tribes,  chiefly  Visigoths, 
Burgundians,  and  Franks,  rushed  into  Gaul 
(France),  whereupon  the  regions  which  had- 
been  Christianized  by  Irenseus,  as  he  labored 
for  his  "  dear  Celts,"  became  filled  with  Teu- 


46  VIA   CHBISTI 

tonic  tribes,  while  the  old  Celtic-Roman  Gaul 
was  displaced  by  the  newcomers.  Hence,  it 
came  to  pass  that  France  had  to  be  taken  a 
second  time  for  Christianity. 

The  first  great  missionary  after  the  invasion 
of  the  Franks  was  at  once  a  soldier  and  a  Chris- 
tian. Martin  of  Tours  (?-396),  the  soldier- 
bishop  and  founder  of  the  first  monastery  in 
France,  cultivated  a  wide  missionary  field. 
Accompanied  by  his  followers,  he  marched 
through  western  France,  destroying  everything 
that  indicated  paganism,  both  Druid  and  Roman. 
Groves,  temples,  idols,  all  fell  under  his  hand, 
as  he  proclaimed  his  militant  gospel,  sometimes 
to  an  affrighted  people,  sometimes  to  an  enthusi- 
astic following.  Like  Ignatius  Loyola,  he  was 
a  soldier  before  he  was  a  Christian,  a  leader  for 
the  God  of  Hosts  rather  than  a  teacher  for  the 
God  of  grace,  yet  a  true  soldier  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  preeminently  a  missionary. 

But  Martin  of  Tours  prepared  the  way  for 
a  great  victory  for  Christianity  in  France  a 
century  later.  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks 
(466-511),  like  many  an  unbeliever  of  modern 
times,  was  quite  willing  that  his  wife,  Clotilda, 
should  be  a  Christian ;  but  he  doubted  her  God, 
to  the  extent  of  forbidding  baptism  to  his  first- 
born son.     Hard  pressed  in  battle,  he  implored 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         47 

the  help  of  Clotilda's  God,  and,  winning  the 
victory,  returned  to  his  home  to  be  baptized  on 
Christmas  Day,  496,  and  with  him  the  army  which 
he  had  conquered.  These  were  primitive,  bar- 
baric times,  and  King  Clovis  was  most  simple- 
hearted  in  his  acceptance  of  the  gospel.  As  he 
was  being  instructed  for  baptism,  on  listening 
to  the  story  of  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  he 
interrupted  with,  "Had  I  been  there  with  my 
brave  Franks,  I  would  have  avenged  his  wrongs." 
The  baptism  of  Clovis  appears  on  the  walls  of 
many  a  European  art-gallery,  preserving  to  the 
imagination  one  of  the  critical  events  in  the 
Christianization  of  Europe. 

The  Rise  of  Mohammedmiism.  —  While  great 
victories  were  being  won  for  Christ  in  the  west, 
an  enterprising  merchant,  a  conductor  of  cara- 
vans, who  could  neither  read  nor  write,  but  whose 
business  journeys  and  observing  temperament 
had  given  him  knowledge  of  the  world,  suddenly 
announced  to  his  kinsmen  and  friends  that  he 
was  divinely  called  to  teach  a  new  religious 
system,  which  was  destined  to  gather  into  one 
the  separated  Arabian  peoples.  Further  than 
that,  he  did  not  plan.  His  doctrines,  written 
down  for  him  by  a  scribe,  were  called  the  Koran, 
or  "Reading";  his  religion,  Islam,  or  "Sub- 
mission to  God's  Will."     Mohammed  soon  had 


48  VIA   CHRISri 

to  flee  from  his  home  in  Mecca,  and  this  date, 
July  15,  622,  is  called  the  Hegira.  He  settled 
at  Medina,  and  from  that  centre  preached  a  new 
religion,  which  in  modern  times  has  a  following 
of  about  170,000,000.  A  religion  of  conquest 
was  entered  upon,  and  the  country  that  had  been 
the  first  to  yield  to  Christianity  and,  what  was 
hardest  to  bear,  that  had  been  the  land  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  was  taken  not  by  the 
faith,  but  by  the  sword,  to  enforce  the  faith. 
Syria,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  North  Africa,  Per- 
sia, and  a  part  of  India,  with  the  great  cities, 
Jerusalem,  Constantinople,  Cyrene,  Tripoli, 
and  Carthage,  after  desperate  resistance,  went 
into  the  hands  of  the  Moslems.  732  marks  the 
stay  of  the  tide,  when  Charles  Martel,  in  the 
battle  of  Poitiers  (Tours),  defeated  the  Sar- 
acens with  great  slaughter  and  saved  Europe 
to  Christianity.  The  defeat  in  the  east  is 
partially  understood  when  it  is  recalled  that 
Roman  law  first  and  Roman  Christianity  after- 
ward had  there  its  slightest  hold,  especially 
after  the  latter  had  been  weakened  by  church 
dissensions.  In  a  little  more  than  a  century 
Islam  had  snatched  from  Christianity  Pales- 
tine, Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and  North 
Africa,  all  from  a  centre  (Arabia)  previously 
bearing  small  part  in  history. 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE        49 

In  German!/.  —  At  the  same  moment  when 
Mohammedanism  was  making  these  rapid 
strides,  the  severely  tested  faith  of  a  distressed 
church  was  enheartened  by  the  enlargement  of 
boundary  and  strengthening  of  stakes  in  central 
Germany. 

There  had  been  born  to  a  noble  family  in 
Exeter,  England,  toward  the  close  of  the  seventh 
century,  a  boy  called  Winfrid,  who  was  to  be 
known  in  history  as  Boniface  (680  ?-755),  the 
apostle  to  the  Germans.  No  missionary  ever 
conquered  greater  family  opposition  than  did 
Winfrid  in  securing  his  preparation  at  Exeter 
and  Winchester  for  his  notable  life.  It  was  at 
Winchester  that  he  took  the  name  of  Boniface, 
and  at  Winchester  that  he  began  his  course  of 
rapid  preferment  in  church  and  state,  inter- 
rupted by  the  missionary  call  that  came  to  him 
early  in  the  eighth  century.  The  story  of 
Boniface  on  his  missionary  tour  is  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  heroic  crossing  and  recrossing  of 
Europe  performed  at  such  peril  by  the  pioneers 
of  the  church.  In  Henry  Van  Dyke's  story  of 
"The  First  Christmas  Tree,"  the  famous  inci- 
dent of  the  felling  of  the  Sacred  Oak  of  Thor, 
may  be  found  not  only  one  of  the  valiant  deeds 
of  Boniface,  but  a  graphic  description  of  the 
earlier  conditions  of  missionary  travel. 


50  VIA   CHEISTI 

Boniface  was  often  in  the  steps  of  Willibrord, 
the  Saxon  missionary  monk,  whose  doughty 
deeds  had  inspired  his  earlier  years.  The  narra- 
tive of  Boniface's  difficult  journeys  in  Friesland, 
in  Gaul,  down  to  Rome  three  times,  to  get  counsel 
of  Popes  Gregory  II  and  III,  back  into  central 
Germany,  and  at  last  into  the  very  wilderness 
portion  of  the  country,  where  he  founded  among 
genuine  heathen  a  strong  church  of  Christ,  with 
a  central  bishopric  and  tributary  churches  and 
schools,  is  a  brave  inspiration  for  modern  mis- 
sionary effort.  Boniface  was  a  statesman,  and 
stood  for  the  union  of  Germany,  even  when  it 
signified  to  stand  against  the  Pope.  First  as 
an  evangelist,  second  as  an  organizer,  and  always 
as  a  reformer,  Boniface  trod  a  thorny  path ; 
but  there  was  never  any  abatement  in  his  mis- 
sionary zeal.  In  late  age  Boniface's  heart 
yearned  over  the  mission  of  his  first  love  that 
he  had  left  forty  years  before,  and  placing  the 
German  work  under  the  care  of  Lull,  a  beloved 
pupil,  he  started  with  another  disciple  for  Fries- 
land,  the  scene  of  his  earliest  missionary  effort ; 
but  he  was  overcome  by  hostile  pagans,  and 
with  his  little  company  fell  a  martyr  to  the 
Christian  faith,  June  5,  755.  Boniface  must  be 
remembered  as  the  great  missionary  of  Central 
Europe. 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         51 

In  Africa.  —  In  the  early  centuries  of  the 
growth  of  Christianity  it  is  interesting  to  note 
how  many  names  belong  to  Africa,  especially  in 
Egypt  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Alexandrian 
school.  In  the  fourth  century  the  gospel  was 
carried  to  the  Soudanese,  the  plant  growing  with 
increasing  strength  for  more  than  two  centuries. 
So  vigorous  was  the  Soudanese  Christianity  that 
the  attempts  of  Islam  were  repulsed  again  and 
again,  though  the  region  finally  succumbed  to 
Mohammedanism. 

In  Ireland.  —  The  Teutons  were  high-spirited 
and  independent ;  the  Celts  w^ere  hot-tempered, 
simple-hearted,  and  dependent.  The  Celts  had 
been  taught  by  the  Druids  the  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  through  transmigration, 
a  belief  in  astrology  and  in  a  variety  of  im- 
mortal gods.  The  Celts  practised  various  arts, 
and  regarded  as  sacred  their  gleemen  and  story- 
tellers, or  the  oUamh  and  seannachie.  Rich 
in  imagination  and  delighting  in  color,  wor- 
shipping in  their  earlier  history  the  sun,  moon, 
stars,  and  nature,  placating  invisible  gods 
and  wearing  charms  to  preserve  their  bodies 
from  peril  and  pestilence,  it  was  no  wonder  that 
Druidism  lingered  in  Ireland  and  the  Scottish 
Highlands  longer  than  in  England.  The 
modern  belief  in  the  banshee  is  but  the  evolu- 


52  VIA   CHRISTI 

tion  of  an  old  Celtic  form,  and  the  celebration 
of  May  Day,  a  relic  of  the  May  bonfire  kindled 
on  ever}^  height  by  the  ancient  Celt  at  spring- 
time. Simple  as  their  ritual  seems,  its  false 
foundation  was  evident  in  the  demand  for  the 
sacrifice  of  human  beings  in  any  stress  of  peril 
in  nation  or  community. 

It  is  among  these  Celts  that  we  find  the  first 
interesting  study  of  the  introduction  of  the 
gospel  into  the  British  Isles,  and  it  is  in  Patrick 
of  Bannaven,  near  Glasgow,  Scotland,  that  we 
have  the  story  of  the  first  great  missionary  of 
the  British  Isles.  Patrick  (400  ?-490  ?)  was  a 
slave  herd-boy  in  north  Ireland,  where  he  had 
been  carried  captive  by  coast  pirates.  He  con- 
sidered his  captivity  as  a  penalty  of  his  sins, 
and  turned  to  God  in  his  distress.  Escaping 
and  retaken,  he  turned  the  rough  discipline  of 
life  into  a  school  of  instruction,  and  during  his 
second  captivity,  which  was  in  Gaul,  made  a 
study  of  the  Christian  schools  already  estab- 
lished there.  He  was  at  about  mid-life  when, 
escaping  from  his  captors,  he  returned  to  Ire- 
land to  become  her  immortal  missionary.  He 
journeyed  through  Ireland  as  a  missionary 
evangelist,  fiercely  opposed  by  the  pagan  chief- 
tains of  the  Druids,  founding  hundreds  of 
churches  and  baptizing  thousands  of  converts. 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         53 

His  career  is  not  unlike  that  of  Paul  in  Asia 
Minor  and  Southern  Europe.  His  schools  were 
largely  co-educational,  on  the  plan  of  groups  of 
cottages  about  the  central  church  and  school- 
room, with  one  common  refectory  for  all.  His 
missions  were  self-supporting  and  most  care- 
fully managed.  Patrick's  happy  adaptability 
to  people  and  his  gentleness  in  dealing  with 
old  prejudices  were  largely  the  secret  of  his 
marvellous  success.  A  deeper  secret  is  held  in 
the  fact  that  Patrick  was  a  man  of  continual 
prayer.  Legends  have  multiplied  about  him, 
one  of  the  most  familiar  that  of  the  shamrock, 
from  whose  three  leaves  he  was  said  to  illustrate 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  a  tradition  doubt- 
less of  modern  date. 

What  is  more  interesting  is  that,  on  account 
of  his  methods  that  harmonized  with  their  own 
church  doctrines,  both  Roman  and  Protestant 
churches  have  claimed  Patrick  as  a  founder. 
Brigida,  or  Bridget,  ought  always  to  be  re- 
called with  the  name  of  Patrick,  for  she  bravely 
aided  his  educational  work,  and  was  one  of  the 
earliest  promoters  of  the  education  of  women. 
One  can  make  a  pilgrimage  in  the  steps  of 
Patrick  to-day,  journeying  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  by  merely  following  the  places  named 
for  him,  as  Kilpatrick,  Port  Patrick,  and  the 


54  VIA   CHRISTI 

like,  while  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  Dublin 
commemorates  in  stone  the  virtues  of  the  pioneer 
missionary  of  Ireland. 

In  Scotland.  —  The  fires  kindled  by  Patrick 
in  Ireland  soon  sent  their  glow  through  Scot- 
land. One  great  consecrated  missionary  had 
made  Ireland  the  centre  from  which  mission- 
aries were  to  be  sent  to  Christianize  the  world 
for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half.  It  was 
natural  that  Scotland  should  become  an  inter- 
esting missionary  field,  for  it  Avas  from  Ireland 
that  it  had  been  peopled,  and  the  emigrant 
Scots  of  Ireland  eventually  changed  its  name 
from  ancient  Caledonia.  The  two  great  his- 
toric names  of  Scotland,  religiously  considered, 
are  Columba  (520?-596)  and  John  Knox 
(1505-1572).  The  one  brought  Scotland  to 
Christ,  the  other  purified  her  debased  Christi- 
anity. 

Columba,  the  great  Celtic  leader,  was  of  royal 
blood,  and  of  such  training  as  became  his  noble 
descent.  Like  Timothy,  "from  a  child"  he  had 
"known  the  holy  Scriptures."  Adamnan,  his 
early  biographer,  gives  this  word  portrait  of 
him:  "He  was  angelic  in  appearance,  graceful 
in  speech,  holy  in  work,  with  talents  of  the 
highest  order  and  of  consummate  prudence.  He 
was  beloved  by  all,  for  a  holy  joy  ever  beam- 


CONSTANTINE   TO   CHARLEMAGNE         55 

ing  in  his  face  revealed  the  joy  and  gladness 
with  which  the  Holy  Spirit  filled  his  inmost 
soul."  The  missionary  spirit  worked  in  the 
church  in  those  days  much  as  the  idea  of 
knighthood  did  at  the  court,  and  Columba  was 
early  seized  with  the  desire  to  devote  his  life 
to  the  heathen.  In  imitation  of  his  Lord,  he 
associated  with  himself  twelve  brethren,  and 
started  at  Whitsuntide,  562,  for  the  region  of 
the  fierce  northern  Picts,  to  whom  he  consid- 
ered himself  kin  through  his  maternal  ancestor, 
lona,  the  most  sacred  centre  of  the  Druidical 
superstitions  and  the  burial-place  of  the  north- 
ern kings  under  the  rule  of  Bride,  king  of  the 
north  Picts,  whose  court  was  near  by  at  Loch 
Ness,  was  made  the  heart  of  the  mission.  King 
Bride  and  all  his  subjects  were  soon  converted 
to  Christianity.  Adjacent  islands  and  the  main- 
land, to  the  inclusion  of  all  north  Scotland, 
were  brought  under  the  power  of  the  new  reli- 
gion, and  great  missionary  conferences  were 
frequently  held  in  lona.  While  he  was  learn- 
ing the  language,  Columba  spoke  by  an  inter- 
preter ;  but  love  gave  him  speed,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  we  find  him,  in  their  own  language, 
mediating  with  neighboring  chiefs  and  kings. 

Columba,  like  Patrick,  was  a  man  of  constant 
prayer.    It  was  said  of  "  the  apostle  of  the  High- 


56  VIA   CHRISTI 

landers  "  that  everything  he  undertook,  great 
and  small,  he  began  and  ended  with  prayer, 
never  forgetting  to  give  God  thanks  for  answer 
to  prayer.  While  he  was  very  self-denying,  it 
was  not  self-denial  for  self-denial's  sake,  but 
that  some  one  might  be  profited  by  this  unself- 
ishness. Thirty-four  years  of  missionary  life 
were  given  him  in  lona,  a  life  o'er-brimming 
with  faith  and  love  and  good  works,  when,  one 
night,  there  came  the  usual  midnight  call  from 
chapel  to  prayer,  and  he  hastened  to  the  altar, 
and,  lifting  up  his  hands,  died,  blessing  the 
people  to  whom  for  more  than  a  generation  he 
had  preached  a  pure  gospel. 

Columba's  last  benediction  on  lona  was  : 
"  Unto  this  place,  albeit  so  small  and  poor,  great 
homage  shall  yet  be  paid,  not  only  by  the  kings 
and  people  of  the  Scots,  but  by  the  rulers  of 
barbarous  and  distant  nations,  with  their  people 
also.  In  great  veneration,  too,  shall  it  be  held 
by  the  holy  men  of  other  churches." 

Columbanus  (550?-615). — Another  great 
missionary,  to  whom  Patrick's  missionary  cam- 
paign in  Ireland  had  been  like  the  sounding  of 
a  reveille,  was  Columbanus  or  Columban,  the 
famous  teacher  of  Gaul.  He  had  been  well 
educated  in  the  monastery  of  Bangor,  Ireland, 
whose  college  in  his  time  enrolled  over  three 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE        57 

thousand  students.  To  Columba  and  Colum- 
ban  we  are  largely  indebted  for  the  idea  and 
the  development  of  industrial  schools  in  con- 
nection with  missions. 

Columban  ought  to  be  named,  too,  as  an 
early  temperance  reformer,  for  he  started  a 
mission  among  his  brethren  to  oppose  the  ten- 
dency to  self-indulgence  by  a  life  of  plain  living 
and  high  thinking.  Invited  to  found  a  mission 
in  Burgundy  by  the  king,  his  motto,  "  Be  bold 
in  the  cause  of  truth  and  impregnable  against 
falsehood,"  brought  him  into  disfavor  and  he 
was  ordered  into  exile.  After  various  vicissi- 
tudes, he  started  on  a  mission  beyond  the 
Rhine,  overthrowing  the  heathen  altars  at 
Lake  Zurich,  and  preaching  among  the  bar- 
barous tribes  the  gospel  of  salvation.  His 
iconoclastic  methods  with  the  sacred  caldrons 
of  beer  brewed  for  sacrifice  remind  one  of 
modern  temperance  crusades.  His  last  work 
was  to  found,  not  far  from  Pavia,  a  Christian 
cloister  at  Bobbio  across  the  Alps,  which  grew 
to  be  quite  noted  for  its  scientific  investiga- 
tions. As  one  studies  Columban,  one  sees  in 
him  a  fine  business  man,  possessed  of  a  certain 
poise,  which  at  the  same  moment  gave  him  the 
tranquillity  of  the  Christian  scholar. 

In  England.  —  The  great  missionaries  from 


58  VIA    CHRISTI 

the  Celts  had  to  pass  back  and  forth  through 
England;  but  it  would  hardly  have  been 
natural  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  should  take 
very  kindly  to  becoming  Christianized  by  the 
people  that  they  had  driven  back  in  many  a 
bloody  battle  into  Wales  and  Ireland.  But 
there  is  a  pretty  story,  illustrating  the  unity 
of  love,  that  when  Kentigern  the  successor  of 
Ninian,  the  Welsh  Romanist,  became  a  mission- 
ary to  southern  Scotland,  he  was  spreading  his 
missions  toward  the  north  and  Columba  his 
toward  the  south,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth 
century,  and  the  two  pioneer  missionaries  met 
and  held  a  famous  conference  with  regard  to 
mission  methods.  Their  common  love  for  their 
common  Master  effaced  all  difference  of  opin- 
ion, and,  as  pledges  of  their  future  harmony, 
they  exchanged  staves,  as  each  went  on  his  way. 

British  bishops  were  present  at  the  council  of 
Aries ;  Eborius,  Bishop  of  York,  and  Restitutus, 
Bishop  of  London,  leaving  their  names  recorded 
in  314  ;  in  359  at  a  council  in  Ariminum,  north- 
ern delegates  were  also  present ;  hence  historic 
church  annals  date  from  the  fourth  century. 

But  it  was  left  to  Rome  to  establish  the  first 
mission  in  England.  The  traditional  story  is 
as  beautiful  as  it  is  ancient.  When  the  Abbot 
Gregory,    walking   the   streets    of   Rome,    saw 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         59 

some  Anglo-Saxon  captives  exposed  for  sale 
in  the  market,  struck  by  their  beauty,  he  asked 
of  what  race  they  were ;  and  when  told  that 
they  were  Angles,  with  characteristic  wit  he 
punned  on  the  word,  saying,  "  Not  '  Angles,' 
but  'angels.'"  He  was  prevented  by  Pope 
Pelagius  II  from  becoming  a  missionary  to 
them  himself,  but,  as  Gregory  I,  when  he 
came  to  the  papal  chair,  he  sent  the  famous 
missionary  Augustine  (Austin  505?-605),  with 
a  company  of  disciples,  to  the  island  of  the 
Angles.  They  landed  at  Kent  and  were  re- 
ceived by  the  king,  Ethelbert,  in  the  open  air, 
where  any  possible  magic,  which  might  uncon- 
sciously work  upon  the  royal  will,  might  be 
immediately  dissipated.  King  Ethelbert  who 
had  already  received  some  instruction  through 
his  Christian  wife.  Bertha,  was  soon  converted 
to  Christianity.  Canterbury  Cathedral  was 
founded,  and  about  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century  Augustine  became  the  first 
archbishop. 

In  north  England  Ethelbert's  son-in-law, 
Edwin,  king  of  Northumbria  (?-633),  was 
more  slowly  won  over.  Although  not  devoted 
to  paganism,  he  was  apprehensive  that  the  new 
religion  might  prove  only  another  variety  of 
the  old.     In  his  perplexity  he  called  together 


60  VIA   CHRISTI 

a  council  of  his  thanes,  when,  the  beautiful 
legend  says,  one  of  them  brought  the  body  to 
a  decision  by  this  exquisite  comparison :  ''  The 
present  life  of  man  on  earth,  O  king,  seems  to 
me,  in  comparison  with  that  time  which  is  un- 
known to  us,  like  the  swift  flight  of  a  sparrow 
through  the  room  where  you  sit  at  supper  in 
winter.  The  sparrow  flies  in  at  one  door  and 
immediately  out  at  another,  and,  whilst  he  is 
within,  is  safe  from  the  wintry  storm ;  but  he 
soon  passes  out  of  your  sight  into  the  dark- 
ness from  which  he  had  emerged.  So  this  life 
of  man  appears  for  a  short  space,  but  of  what 
went  before,  or  what  is  to  follow,  we  are  utterly 
ignorant.  If,  therefore,  this  new  doctrine  con- 
tains something  more  certain,  it  seems  justly 
to  deserve  to  be  followed." 

The  winning  of  other  portions  of  England 
is  equally  worthy  further  study. 

We  see  that  the  planting  of  the  gospel  in 
England  is  due  to  two  missions,  the  missionaries 
from  the  Celts,  aided  by  some  teachers  from 
Gaul,  and  the  Roman  missionaries  sent  by  the 
Pope.  These  were  at  great  odds  with  each 
other.  The  missions  of  the  north,  under  Co- 
lumba,  and  of  the  south,  founded  by  Augustine, 
had  so  serious  differences  of  form  that,  in  the 
seventh  century  (664),  a  great  conference  was 


CON  ST  AN  TINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         61 

held  at  Whitby,  in  which  it  was  decided  that 
the  Roman  church  should  have  the  preference ; 
this  gave  a  certain  national  idea  to  the  entire 
church,  which  eventually  weakened  its  depend- 
ence upon  Rome  and  made  way  for  the  ideas  of 
the  Reformation. 

The  two  great  names  associated  with  the 
Christianizing  of  England  are  really  Columba 
of  lona  and  Gregory  of  Rome,  and,  as  far  as 
known,  neither  ever  entered  the  island  of  Eng- 
land. At  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century 
the  country  had  had  its  second  reclamation  to 
Christ:  the  first,  when  the  gospel  had  been 
brought  in  with  the  Roman  rule  in  the  last 
century,  and  again,  when  it  was  redeemed  from 
the  heathen  tribes  who  had  afterward  overrun 
it,  to  become,  after  seven  hundred  years,  the 
most  important  centre  of  Christianity  on  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

Archbishop  Trench  says  the  Celtic  church 
did  not  last,  because  it  was  devoid  of  unifying 
power,  the  gift  of  order  and  organization  which 
was  the  strength  of  Rome. 

In  Central  Europe.  —  Centuries  of  worship 
of  all  that  was  powerful  and  m3^sterious  in  na- 
ture had  made  of  the  Teutonic  people  a  race  of 
reverent  children.  Intermarriages  among  their 
leading  tribes,  the  accession  of  Christian  cap- 


62  VIA    CHRISTI 

tives  brought  back  from  their  invasion  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  the  contact  with  Roman  civi- 
lization,—  and,  through  the  Roman,  Greek, — 
soon  began  to  have  its  effect  upon  the  races  that 
now  were  approaching  an  age  when  a  more 
thoughtful  religion  would  appeal  to  them,  a 
religion  of  which  they,  all  unconsciously,  were 
to  become  the  stronghold.  Menzel,  the  histo- 
rian, says  :  — 

"  The  sages  of  the  East  were  teaching  wisdom 
beneath  the  palms ;  the  merchants  of  Tyre  and 
Carthage  were  weighing  their  heavy  anchors 
and  spreading  their  purple  sails  for  far  seas ; 
the  Greek  was  making  the  earth  fair  by  his  art 
and  the  Roman  founding  his  colossal  empire  of 
force,  —  while  the  Teuton  sat,  yet  a  child,  un- 
known and  naked,  among  the  forest  beasts ; 
and  yet,  unharmed  and  in  his  sport,  he  lorded 
it  over  them  ;  for  the  child  was  of  a  royal  race 
and  destined  to  win  glory  for  all  time  to  come." 

It  will  be  seen  that  each  new  region,  as  it  has 
been  taken  for  Christ,  has  had  its  great  apostle, 
and  the  early  apostle  of  the  Goths  is  Ulfilas 
(318-388).  Constantine  was  yet  on  the  throne 
when  Ulfilas,  who  derived  his  knowledge  of 
Christianity  from  the  Christian  captives,  began 
his  great  missionary  campaigns  among  the  war- 
rior Goths.     Ten  years  at  Constantinople,  in  the 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         63 

service  of  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  had  added 
to  native  ability  Greek  culture.  Constantius 
called  him  the  Moses  of  his  day.  So  holy  was 
Ulfilas  of  life,  that  the  Goths  were  wont  to  say 
of  him,  "  What  Ulfilas  does  is  good,  for  Ulfilas 
can  do  nothing  bad." 

It  is  to  Ulfilas  we  owe  it  that  letters  were 
given  to  the  letterless  Goths,  the  characters 
themselves  being  invented,  into  which  he  trans- 
lated the  New  Testament  and  most  of  the  Old. 
A  part  of  the  latter,  as  the  Books  of  Samuel  and 
of  Kings,  were  omitted,  lest  to  these  warlike 
Goths  the  stories  of  ancient  conquests  should 
prove  too  stirring.  Nearly  every  public  library 
of  importance  can  show  a  duplicate  page  of  the 
wonderful  Testament  of  Ulfilas,  in  letters  of 
silver  on  a  purple  ground.  This  Bible  is  of 
great  value  in  the  history  of  human  speech,  dear 
alike  to  philology  and  the  church.  Of  the  Old 
Testament  we  have  two  or  three  chapters  of 
Ezekiel  and  Nehemiah,  and  a  few  scattered  quo- 
tations. Of  the  New  Testament  we  have  the 
greater  part  of  the  Epistles  of  Paul  in  palimp- 
sest ;  and,  above  all,  we  have  more  than  half  of 
the  gospels  preserved  in  the  splendid  Codex 
Argenteus  at  Upsala,  Sweden.  In  Hodgkin's 
"  Italy  and  Her  Invaders,"  it  is  said  of  Ulfilas  : 
"  If  the  greatest  name  of  that  century  be  ad- 


64  VIA   CHRISTI 

mitted  to  be  Constantine,  and  if  the  second 
place  be  yielded  to  Athanasius,  at  least  the  third 
may  be  claimed  for  the  missionary  bishop  of  the 
Goths  and  the  first  translator  of  the  Bible  into 
a  barbarian  tongue,  the  noble-hearted  Ulfilas." 

The  great  bishop  adds  one  more  to  those  who 
were  so  absorbed  in  preaching  the  simple 
gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  to  care  little 
for  the  speculative  theology  of  his  time. 

In  China.  —  China,  that  houses  a  tenth  of 
the  world's  inhabitants,  has  seen  all  other  king- 
doms that  we  call  ancient,  as  Egypt,  Babylon, 
Assyria,  Persia,  Greece,  and  Rome,  become  in 
turn  great  powers  and  totter  to  their  fall.  In 
the  Congregational  House  library  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  may  be  found  a  lithograph  which  tells 
the  story  of  the  entrance  of  the  gospel  into 
China  before  the  end  of  the  seventh  century. 
This  was  taken  from  a  monument  of  Si-ngan-f u, 
a  site  become  of  marked  interest  in  the  uprising 
in  China  of  1900-1901.  Traditional  Nestorian 
literature  says,  "  By  St.  Thomas  hath  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  taken  unto  itself  wings  and 
passed  even  unto  China."  The  story  of  the 
Nestorian  missions  in  China  is  included  be- 
tween the  early  part  of  the  seventh  and  the 
last  part  of  the  eighth  centuries,  making  a  pe- 
riod of  about  a  century  and  a  half.     From  the 


CONSTANTINE   TO   CHARLEMAGNE         65 

Si-ngan-fu  monument  we  learn  that  more  than 
eleven  hundred  years  ago  the  Nestorian  mis- 
sions to  China  had  so  great  popularity  that 
Christianity  had  a  fair  field  with  Confucianism, 
Taoism,  and  Buddhism.  It  also  records  a 
Syriac  version  of  the  Scriptures  now  lost. 

The  metropolitan  was  instituted  in  China  in 
720,  after  much  missionary  work  had  been 
done.  But  that  Christianity  in  China  was 
nearly  a  century  older  than  the  date  of  its  first 
metropolitan  bishop  is  established  by  more  than 
one  Chinese  record. 

Although  six  or  seven  emperors  of  the  Tang 
dynasty  (seventh  century)  were  favorable  to 
Christianity,  it  was  not  long  after  that  both 
Buddhism  and  Christianity  came  under  the  ban 
of  the  emperors.  But  the  Scriptures  had  en- 
tered China  in  the  Syriac  version  used  by  the 
Nestorians. 

Ill  India.  —  A  bishop  of  India,  whose  diocese 
extended  over  Persia  and  India,  is  reported 
to  have  been  at  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  325. 
Whether  or  not  Thomas  the  apostle  ever  saw 
India,  authentic  missionary  history  begins  with 
the  Nestorian  missions  on  the  coast  of  Malabar. 
In  the  sixth  century,  the  merchant  traveller, 
Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  writes  :  "  Even  in  the 
island  of  Taprobane  (Ceylon)  there  is  a  church 


66  VIA   CHRISTI 

of  Christians  and  a  congregation  of  believers, 
though  I  know  not  if  there  be  any  Christians 
farther  on  in  that  direction,  and  such  is  also 
the  case  in  the  land  called  Male,  where  the 
pepper  grows.  And  in  the  place  called  Kaliana 
(Malabar)  there  is  a  bishop  appointed  from 
Persia,  as  well  as  in  the  isle  called  the  Isle  of 
Dioscoris  (Socotra)  in  the  same  Indian  Sea. 
The  inhabitants  of  that  island  speak  Greek, 
having  been  originally  settled  there  by  the 
Ptolemies  who  ruled  after  Alexander  of  Mace- 
don.  There  are  clergy  there  also,  ordained  and 
sent  from  Persia  to  minister  among  the  people 
of  the  island  and  a  multitude  of  Christians. 
We  sailed  past  the  island,  but  did  not  land. 
I  met,  however,  with  people  from  it  who  were 
on  their  way  to  Ethiopia,  and  they  spoke 
Greek." 

In  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  we  have  a 
precious  record,  verifying  the  fact  that  there 
was  a  Christian  church  in  Ceylon,  and  a  bishop 
appointed  over  Malabar  and  Socotra  (Nesto- 
rian).  One  of  the  most  precious  relics  of  that 
early  Nestorian  work  is  an  altar  slab  of  the 
seventh  or  eighth  centuries  with  the  cross  and 
the  dove  cut  on  it,  and  the  inscription,  "  Let 
me  not  glory  except  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ; "  continuing,  in  the  native  dia- 


CONSTANTINE  TO  CHARLEMAGNE        67 

lect,  "  Who  is  the  true  Messiah,  God  alone 
and  Holy  Ghost." 

Music  in  Christian  Work.  —  The  question  of 
the  character  of  the  hymnology  to  be  used  in 
the  extension  of  the  Christian  church  and  in  its 
established  service  became  a  matter  of  some 
consequence  in  the  fourth  century.  The  early 
hymns  were  rather  festive,  following  the  classic 
forms  of  invocations  to  the  gods.  The  Synod 
of  Laodicea  (344-346)  forbade  the  use  of  all 
hymns  and  psalms  that  were  not  found  in  the 
Scriptures.  The  Arians  soon  saw  the  value  of 
music  in  creating  sentiment,  and  composed 
hymns  that  took  strong  hold  in  Constantinople 
and  the  east,  in  which  the  unorthodox  took 
especial  delight.  Ambrose,  though  by  no 
means  an  Arian,  also  wrote  popular  hymns, 
that  were  first  used  among  his  own  people  at 
Milan,  and  then  throughout  Italy.  All  early 
hymnology  was  characterized  by  Bible  idiom. 

7^e  Scriptures.  —  It  will  be  observed,  by 
glancing  at  the  table  preceding  this  chapter, 
that,  as  a  result  of  missions,  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries  became  a  period  of  Bible  translations. 


68  VIA   CHRISTI 

SELECTIONS   FROM   THE   PERIOD 

A  Missionary's  Creed 

"  I  believe  in  one  only  unborn  and  invisible 
(or  indivisible)  God,  and  in  his  only  begotten 
Son,  one  Lord  and  God,  the  Creator  of  all 
creatures,  to  whom  none  is  like,  but  he  is  God 
over  all  and  over  ours  ;  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  power  which  enlightens  and  sanctifies,  who 
himself  is  neither  God  nor  Lord,  but  a  servant 
of  Christ,  subject  and  obedient  to  the  Son  in 
all  things,  as  the  Son  is  subject  and  obedient  in 
all  things  to  the  Father,  the  Blessed  forever." 
—  Ulfilas  (318-388). 


Catechism 


A  portion  of  the  catechism  presented  to  candidates 
for  baptism  in  the  eighth  century  :  — 

Q.  Forsakest  thou  the  devil  ? 

A.  I  forsake  the  devil. 

Q.  And  all  devil-worship  ? 

A.  And  I  forsake  all  devil-worship. 

Q.  Believest  thou  in  God,  the  Father  Al- 
mighty ? 

A.  I  believe,  etc. 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE        69 

Q.  Believest  thou  in  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ? 

A.  I  believe,  etc. 

Q.  Believest  thou  in  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 

A.  I  believe,  etc. 


"Love,  it  is  heaven." 
"  And  hate  ?  " 
"Hate  is  hell." 
"  And  conscience  ?  " 

"  It  is  the  eye  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man." 
—  Cadoc  (a  sixth-century  monk)  to  his  disciples. 


Missionary  Methods 

The  method  of  Christianization  by  tribes  was  very 
common  where  kings  or  leaders  were  baptized.  Socrates, 
called  the  Scholar,  records  an  incident  of  this  kind, 
which  well  illustrated  many  like  experiences :  — 

"There  is  a  barbarous  nation  which  have 
their  abode  beyond  the  river  Rhine  ;  they  are 
called  the  Burgundions.  These  people  lead  a 
quiet  life  ;  they  are  for  the  most  part  wood- 
cutters. The  nation  of  the  Hunni,  by  making 
continual  inroads  upon  this  people,  frequently 
destroyed  many  of  them.  The  Burgundions, 
therefore,  reduced  to  great  straits,  flew  for 
refuge  to  no  man,  but  resolved  to  intrust  them- 
selves to  some  god  to  protect  them ;  and  having 
seriously  considered  with  themselves  that  the 


70  VIA   CHRISTI 

God  of  the  Romans  did  vigorously  assist  and 
defend  those  that  feared  him,  they  all  came 
over  to  the  faith  of  Christ.  Repairing  accord- 
ingly to  one  of  the  cities  of  Gallia,  they  made 
request  to  the  bishop  that  they  might  receive 
Christian  baptism.  The  bishop  ordered  them 
to  fast  for  seven  days,  in  which  interval  he  in- 
structed them  in  the  grounds  of  the  faith,  and 
on  the  eighth  day  baptized  and  so  dismissed 
them.  Being  encouraged  thereby,  they  marched 
out  against  the  Hunni,  and  were  not  deceived 
in  their  expectation  ;  for  the  king  of  the  Hunni 
having  burst  himself  in  the  night  by  overeating, 
the  Burgundions  fell  upon  his  people,  destitute 
of  a  commander,  and,  few  though  they  were, 
engaged  and  conquered  very  many.  For  the 
Burgundions,  being  in  number  only  three  thou- 
sand, destroyed  about  ten  thousand  of  the 
Hunni.  And  from  that  time  the  nation  of  the 
Burgundions  became  zealous  professors  of 
Christianity." 

A  missionary  method  in  the  eighth  century  advised 
by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester. 

After  warning  against  using  violent  and 
contemptuous  language,  and  commending  the 
spirit  of  patience  and  moderation,  he  says  of  the 
heathen  :  — 


CONSTANTINE  TO  CHARLEMAGNE         71 

"  They  will  admit  that  the  gods  they  wor- 
ship had  a  beginning,  that  there  was  a  time 
when  they  were  not.  Ask  them,  then,  whether 
they  consider  the  world  also  to  have  had  a  be- 
ginning, or  whether  it  has  always  existed  from 
the  first  commencement  of  things.  Again,  in- 
quire who  governed  and  sustained  the  world 
before  the  birth  of  those  gods  whom  they 
adore.  By  what  means  were  they  able  to  gain 
a  supremacy  of  power  over  a  universe  which 
had  existed  from  all  time?  Whence,  how,  or 
when  was  the  first  god  or  goddess  born  ?  Are 
more  deities  still  in  process  of  generation?  If 
not,  why  and  when  did  the  laws  of  celestial  in- 
crease come  to  an  end?  Ask  them,  again, 
whether,  amid  such  a  multitude  of  powerful 
deities  as  they  acknowledge,  there  is  not  danger 
of  failing  to  discover  the  most  powerful,  and 
thus  offending  him.  Why,  in  fact,  are  these 
gods  worshipped  ?  For  the  sake  of  present  and 
temporal  or  for  the  sake  of  future  and  eternal 
happiness?  What,  again,  is  the  import  of  their 
sacrifices?  If  the  gods  are  all-powerful,  what 
do  they  gain  by  them  ?  If  they  do  not  need 
them,  why  attempt  to  appease  them  with  such 
costly  offerings  ?  vSuch  questions  I  would  have 
thee  put  to  them,  not  in  the  way  of  taunt  or 
mockery,  which  will  only  irritate,  but  kindly 


72  VIA   CERISTI 

and  gently.  Then,  after  a  while,  compare  their 
superstitions  with  the  Christian  doctrines,  and 
touch  upon  the  latter  judiciously,  that  thy 
people  may  not  be  exasperated  against  thee, 
but  ashamed  of  their  foolish  errors." 


A  Missionary  Longing  for  Home 

Delightful  would  it  be  to  me  to  be  in  Uchd 
Allium 

On  the  pinnacle  of  a  rock, 
That  I  might  often  see 

The  face  of  the  ocean  ; 
That  I  might  see  its  heaving  waves 

Over  the  wide  ocean. 
When  they  chant  their  music  to  their  Father 

Upon  the  world's  course  ; 
That  I  might  see  its  level,  sparkling  strand. 

It  would  be  no  cause  of  sorrow ; 
That  I  might  hear  the  song  of  the  wonderful 
birds, 

Source  of  happiness ; 
That  I  might  hear  the  thunder  of  the  crowding 
waves 

Upon  the  rocks ; 
That  I  might  hear  the  roar  by  the  side  of  the 
church 

Of  the  surrounding  sea  ; 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHABLEMAGNE         73 

That  I  might  see  its  noble  flocks 

Over  the  watery  ocean  ; 
That  I  might  see  the  sea  monsters, 

The  greatest  of  all  wonders ; 
****** 

That  I  might  bless  the  Lord, 

Who  conserves  all, 
Heaven  with  its  countless  bright  orders. 

Land,  strand,  and  flood ; 
That  I  might  search  the  books  all, 

That  would  be  good  for  any  soul ; 
At  times  kneeling  to  beloved  heaven  ; 

At  times  at  psalm-singing  ; 
At  times  contemplating  the  King  of  heaven. 

Holy  the  chief ; 
At  times  at  work  without  compulsion ; 

This  would  be  delightful. 
At  times  plucking  duilisc  from  the  rocks ; 

At  times  at  fishing  ; 
At  times  giving  food  to  the  poor  ; 

At  times  in  a  carcair  [solitary  cell]. 
The  best  advice  in  the  presence  of  God 

To  me  has  been  vouchsafed. 
The  King,  whose  servant  I  am,  will  not  let 

Anything  deceive  me. 

—  CoLUMBA  (521-597). 


74  VIA    CHEISTI 

Prayers 


"  O  Lord,  give  me,  I  beseech  thee,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  thy  Son,  my  God,  that 
love  which  can  never  cease,  that  will  kindle  my 
lamp  but  not  extinguish  it,  that  it  may  burn  in 
me  and  enlighten  others.  Do  thou,  O  Christ, 
our  dearest  Saviour,  thyself  kindle  our  lamps, 
that  they  may  evermore  shine  in  thy  temple  ; 
that  they  may  receive  unquenchable  light  from 
thee,  that  will  enlighten  our  darkness,  and 
lessen  the  darkness  of  the  world.  My  Jesus,  I 
pray  thee,  give  thy  light  to  my  lamp,  that  in 
its  light  the  most  holy  place  may  be  revealed 
to  me  in  which  thou  dwellest  as  the  eternal 
Priest,  that  I  may  always  behold  thee,  desire 
thee,  look  upon  thee  in  love,  and  long  after 
thee."  —  CoLUMBANUS  (550-615). 

II 

"  Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  who  dost 
enkindle  the  flame  of  thy  love  in  the  hearts  of 
the  saints,  grant  unto  us  the  same  faith  and 
power  of  love ;  that,  as  we  rejoice  in  their 
triumphs,  we  may  profit  by  their  examples, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  Amen."  — 
Gothic  Missal  (c.  375). 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHAELEMAGNE        75 

III 

"  O  thou  Good  Omnipotent,  who  so  carest 
for  every  one  of  us,  as  if  thou  caredst  for  him 
alone,  and  so  for  all,  as  if  all  were  but  one ! 
Blessed  is  the  man  who  loveth  thee,  and  his 
friend  in  thee,  and  his  enemy  for  thee.  For 
he  only  loses  none  dear  to  him,  to  whom  all  are 
dear  in  him  who  cannot  be  lost.  And  who  is 
that  but  our  God,  the  God  that  made  heaven 
and  earth,  and  filleth  them,  even  by  filling 
them  creating  them.  And  thy  law  is  truth, 
and  truth  is  thyself.  I  behold  how  some 
things  pass  away  that  others  may  replace 
them,  but  thou  dost  never  depart,  O  God, 
my  Father  supremely  good,  Beauty  of  all 
things  beautiful.  To  thee  will  I  intrust 
whatsoever  I  have  received  from  thee,  so  shall 
I  lose  nothing.  Thou  madest  me  for  thyself, 
and  my  heart  is  restless  until  it  repose  in 
thee.     Amen."  —  St.  Augustine   (354-430). 

IV 

"  Almighty  God,  who  seest  that  we  have  no 
power  of  ourselves  to  help  ourselves,  keep  us 
both  outwardly  in  our  bodies  and  inwardly  in 
our  souls,  that  we  may  be  defended  from  all 
adversities  which  may  happen  to  the  body,  and 


76'  VIA   CHEISTI 

from  all  evil  thoughts  which  may  assault  and 
hurt  the  soul ;  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 
Amen."  —  Gregorian  Sacramentary  (544- 
595). 

V 

"O  Holy  Spirit,  Love  of  God,  infuse  thy 
grace,  and  descend  plentifully  into  my  heart; 
enlighten  the  dark  corners  of  this  neglected 
dwelling,  and  scatter  there  thy  cheerful  beams ; 
dwell  in  that  soul  that  longs  to  be  thy  temple  ; 
water  that  barren  soil,  overrun  with  weeds  and 
briers,  and  lost  for  want  of  cultivating,  and 
make  it  fruitful  with  thy  dew  from  heaven. 
Oh,  come,  thou  Refreshment  of  them  that 
languish  and  faint.  Come,  thou  Star  and 
Guide  of  them  that  sail  in  the  tempestuous 
sea  of  the  world;  thou  only  Haven  of  the 
tossed  and  shipwrecked.  Come,  thou  Glory 
and  Crown  of  the  living,  and  only  Safeguard 
of  the  dying.  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  in  much 
mercy,  and  make  me  fit  to  receive  thee.  Amen." 
—  St.  Augustine  (354-430). 


Hymns 

Among  recent  discoveries  in  Egypt  has  been  a  col- 
lection of  papyri,  in  which  is  found  the  remains  of  an 
early  Christian  hymn,  dating  from  the  first  half  of  the 


CONSTANTINE   TO   CHARLEMAGNE         77 

fourth   century,   of   which    the    following    are    selected 
stanzas : — 

I 

The  Father  sent  him  to  suffer, 
Who  has  received  eternal  life, 
Who  has  received  power  over  immortality. 

He  preached  the  gospel  to  his  servants,  saying, 
The  poor  (shall  have)  a  kingdom. 
Theirs  is  the  inheritance. 

He  was  scourged  as  an  example, 
In  order  to  give  an  impulse  to  all, 
...  in  order  to  destroy  death. 

In   order    that    thou    after    death    mayst    see 

resurrection. 
That  thou  mayst  see  the  light  to  eternity. 
That  thou  mayst  receive  the  God  of  lights. 

II 

"  The  Beers  Cry  "  or  "  The  Breastplate  " 

I  bind  myself  to-day 

To  the  power  of  God  to  guide  me, 
The  might  of  God  to  uphold  me. 
The  wisdom  of  God  to  teach  me, 
The  eye  of  God  to  watch  over  me. 
The  ear  of  God  to  hear  me, 
The  word  of  God  to  speak  for  me, 


78  VIA   CHRISTI 

The  hand  of  God  to  protect  me, 
The  way  of  God  to  lie  before  me, 
The  shield  of  God  to  shelter  me. 
The  host  of  God  to  defend  me 
Against  the  snares  of  demons, 
Against  the  temptations  of  vices. 
Against  (the  lusts)  of  nature, 
Against  every  man  who  meditates  injury 
to  me. 
Whether  far  or  near. 
Alone  and  in  a  multitude. 

Christ  with  me,  Christ  before  me, 

Christ  behind  me,  Christ  within  me, 

Christ  beneath  me,  Christ  above  me, 

Christ  at  my  right,  Christ  at  my  left, 

Christ  in  breadth,  Christ  in  length,  Christ  in 

height. 
Christ  in  the  heart  of  every  man  who  thinks 

of  me, 
Christ  in  the  mouth  of  every  man  who  speaks 

to  me, 
Christ  in  the  eye  of  every  man  who  sees  me, 
Christ  in  the  ear  of  every  man  that  hears  me. 

I  bind  myself  to-day 

To    a   strong   power,    an   invocation   of   the 
Trinity, 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         79 

I  believe  in  a  Threeness  with  a  confession  of 
a  Oneness  in  the  Creator  of  judgment. 

Salvation  is  the  Lord's, 

Salvation  is  the  Lord's, 

Salvation  is  Christ's, 

Let  thy  salvation,  O  Lord,  be  ever  with  us. 

—  Hymn  of  Patrick  (400?-490?). 

(Another  fine  translation  by  Clarence  Mangan  can  be 
found  in  "  The  Fathers  for  English  Readers  Series : 
St.  Patrick.") 

Ill 

Te  Deum  Laudamus 

We  praise  thee,  O  God  ;  we  acknowledge  thee 

to  be  the  Lord. 
All  the  earth  doth  worship  thee  :    the  Father 

everlasting. 
To  thee  all  angels  cry  aloud  :    the  heavens,  and 

all  the  powers  therein ; 
To  thee  cherubim  and  seraphim  continually  do 

cry.  Holy,  holy,  holy:  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth: 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  the  majesty  :    of 

thy  glory. 
The  glorious  company  of  the  apostles  :  praise 

thee. 
The  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets  :    praise 

thee. 


80  VIA   CHRISTI 

The  noble  army  of  martyrs :    praise  thee. 

The  holy  church  throughout  all  the  world :  doth 

acknowledge  thee, 
The  Father :  of  an  infinite  majesty ; 
Thine  adorable,  true  :  and  only  Son  ; 
Also  the  Holy  Ghost  :    the  Comforter. 
Thou  art  the  King  of  Glory  :  O  Christ. 
Thou  art  the  everlasting  Son  :  of  the  Father. 
When  thou  tookest  upon  thee  to  deliver  man  : 

thou  didst  humble  thyself  to  be  born  of  a 

virgin. 
When  thou  hadst  overcome   the   sharpness  of 

death:    thou  didst  open  the  kingdom   of 

heaven  to  all  believers. 
Thou  sittest  at  the  right  hand  of  God :    in  the 

glory  of  the  Father. 
We  believe   that   thou  shalt  come :    to  be  our 

Judge. 
We    therefore  pray   thee,  help   thy   servants : 

whom  thou  hast  redeemed  with  thy  precious 

blood. 
Make  them  to  be  numbered  with  thy  saints :  in 

glory  everlasting. 
O  Lord,  save  thy  people:  and  bless  thine  heritage. 
Govern  them  :  and  lift  them  up  for  ever. 
Day  by  day  :  we  magnify  thee  ; 
And  we  worship  thy  name ;   ever,  world  with- 
out end. 


CONSTANTINE  TO   CHARLEMAGNE         81 

Vouchsafe,  O  Lord :  to  keep  us  this  day  with- 
out sin. 

O  Lord,  in  thee  have  I  trusted :  let  me  never  be 
confounded. 

O  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us  :  have  mercy  upon 
us. 

O  Lord,  let  thy  mercy  be  upon  us  :  as  our  trust 
is  in  thee. 

O  Lord,  in  thee  have  I  trusted  :    let  me  never 

be  confounded. 

—  Seventh  Century. 


Great  Words 


"  Lord,  if  I  am  still  needed  for  thy  people,  I 
would  not  draw  back  from  the  work."  —  Mar- 
tin, Bishop  of  Tours  (?-396?),  at  the  age  of 
eighty. 

"  This  is  my  last  commandment  to  you,  my 
children,  that  ye  should  love  one  another  sin- 
cerely, and  be  at  peace.  If  ye  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  good,  God,  who  strengthens  such, 
will  surely  be  with  you."  —  Columba  (521- 
597). 

"  He  treads  earth  beneath  him  who  conquers 
himself.  None  who  spares  himself  hates  the 
world.  It  is  in  the  heart  we  love  or  hate.  No 
one  dies  to  the  world  unless  Christ  lives  in  him. 


82  VIA   CHBISTI 

Live  in  Christ,  and  Christ  lives  in  thee.  We 
must  take  heaven  by  violence,  beset  not  only 
by  our  enemies,  but  most  of  all  by  ourselves. 
If  thou  hast  conquered  self,  thou  hast  con- 
quered everything."  —  Columban  (550-615). 
"  I  do  not  want  my  boys  to  read  a  lie  in  my 
book  or  to  work  to  no  purpose  after  I  am 
gone."  — Bede  (672-735). 

THEMES  FOR  PAPERS  AND   DISCUSSIONS 

I.   Monasteries  :  Their  Advantages  to  Early  Missions. 
II.   Remy  of  France. 

III.  Ninian  and  Kentigern. 

IV.  Hilda  of  Whitby. 
V.   Willibrord. 

VI.   Mohammedanism. 

VII.   Women   missionaries:    (a)    Lioba;    (b)    Thecla; 
(c)  Walpurgis;  (d)  Chinnihild  and  Berath- 
gith;   (e)  Brigida. 
VIII.   Chrysostom. 
IX.   The  Relations  of  Chm'ch  Councils  to  Missions. 
X.   Had  the  Revival  of  Learning  any  Effect  on  Mis- 
sions? 
XI.   Severinus,  the  Apostle  of  Austria. 
XII.   Cosmas  Indicopleustes. 

BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE 

Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."    (For  II, 

in,  VII,  VIII,  XI,  XII.) 

"  Encyclopedia  of  Missions."     (For  general  reference.) 
Fisher's  "History  of   the  Christian   Church."     (For   I, 
VI,  VIII,  XII.) 


CONSTANTINE  TO  CHARLEMAGNE        83 

Hunt's  "  English  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages."     (For  I.) 
Lane's  "  Illustrated  Notes  on  English  Church  History." 

(For  I,  IV.) 
Lippincott's  "  Biographical  Dictionary."    (For  II,  III,  IV, 

V,  VII,  VIII.) 
London  Quarterly  Review,  April,  1866.     (For  VII.  e.) 
Maclear's  "  The  English."     (For  III.) 
Merivale's  "  Continental   Teutons."     (For  IV,  VII,  IX, 

XL) 
Milman's  "  Latin  Christianity."     Vol.  II.     (For  I,  VI.) 
Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal." 

(For  II,  VIIL) 
Plummer's  "  Church  of  the  Early  Fathers."    (For  I,  V.) 
Smith's  "Short   History  of  Christian  Missions."     (For 

IV,  VII,  VIII,  XI.) 
Trench's    "  Lectures    on    Mediseval    Church     History." 

(For  VI,  IX,  XL) 


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CHAPTER   III 

Charlemagne  to  Bernard  of  Clairvaux 

From  the  Establishment  of  the  Christian  Empire  of  the 
West  to  the  Crusading  Church 

Ninth  to  the  Twelfth  Century 

The  Second  Great  Triumph  of  Christianity.  — 
When  Rome  was  taken  by  the  Visigoths  under 
Alaric,  the  effect  of  Christianity  on  the  Teutons 
had  become  very  apparent.  Augustine,  the 
famous  bishop  of  Hippo  (354-430),  says : 
"  What  was  novel  was  that  those  who  surren- 
dered were  taken  into  churches  by  their  relent- 
ing enemies,  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  that  none 
from  them  were  led  into  slavery  by  merciless 
foes.  Whoever  fails  to  see  that  this  is  to  be 
attributed  to  the  name  of  Christ  and  to  the 
Christian  temper  is  blind ;  whoever  sees  this 
and  gives  not  thanks  to  God  is  ungrateful;  and 
whoever  hinders  any  one  from  praising  it  is 
mad.  No  prudent  man  will  ascribe  such  clem- 
ency to  barbarians."  When  Charlemagne  (742- 
814),  the  great  Teutonic  king  with  a  French 
name,  came  to  power,  he  reigned  over  the 
85 


86  VIA   CHBISTI 

Franks  and  most  of  the  country  that  we  now 
call  France  and  Germany.  With  the  eastern 
portion  of  his  realm  already  grounded  in  Chris- 
tianity, he  conceived  the  magnificent  plan  of 
rebuilding  the  Roman  Empire,  but  not  the  Lat- 
inized, and  almost  a  half  century's  reign  was 
spent  in  the  statesmanlike  task  of  preserving 
Teutonic  institutions,  while  he  kept  the  Empire 
loyal  to  Christianity.  It  was  a  military  neces- 
sity to  subdue  the  warlike  tribes  on  the  boun- 
daries of  his  kingdom,  whom  in  a  rough  manner 
he  Christianized  at  the  same  time.  A  specimen 
of  his  directness  may  be  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing incident ;  — 

A  bishop  in  Charlemagne's  time  left  for  alms, 
at  his  death,  only  two  pounds  of  silver.  "  Truly 
a  slight  provision  for  so  long  a  journey,"  said 
one  of  the  young  priests. 

"  Take  the  vacant  bishopric,  and  look  to  it 
that  thou  sendest  before  thee  and  me  a  good 
provision  for  the  journey  from  whence  there  is 
no  returning,"  said  Charlemagne. 

Longfellow's  word-portrait  presents  the  fig- 
ure of  Charlemagne  in  mediaeval  history:  — 

" '  When  you  behold  the  harvests  in  the  fields 
Shaking  with  fear,  the  Po  and  the  Ticino 
Lashing  the  city  walls  with  iron  waves, 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  87 

Then   may  you   know   that   Charlemagne    is 

come.' 
And  even  as  he  spake,  in  the  northwest, 
Lo,  there  uprose  a  black  and  threatening  cloud, 
Out  of  whose  bosom  flashed  the  light  of  arms 
Upon  the  people  pent  up  in  the  city ; 
A  light  more  terrible  than  any  darkness. 
And  Charlemagne  appeared  —  a  Man  of  Iron! 

"  His  helmet  was  of  iron,  and  his  gloves 
Of  iron,  and  his  breastplate  and  his  greaves 
And  tassets  were  of  iron,  and  his  shield. 
In  his  left  hand  he  held  an  iron  spear, 
In  his  right  hand  his  sword  invincible. 
The  horse  he  rode  on  had  the  strength  of  iron. 
And  color  of  iron.     All  who  went  before  him. 
Beside  him  and  behind  him,  his  whole  host. 
Were  armed  with  iron,  and  their  hearts  within 

them 
Were  stronger  than  the  armor  that  they  wore. 
The  fields  and  all  the  roads  were  filled  with 

iron. 
And  points  of  iron  glistened  in  the  sun 
And  shed  a  terror  through  the  city  streets." 

There  w^as  a  ceaseless  warfare  in  warding  off 
the  Saracens  on  the  Spanish  side,  and  checking 
the  Lombards  for  the  defence  of  the  Pope. 
Each  conquest  extended  his  dominion,  until,  at 


88  VIA   CHRISTI 

the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  we  find  the 
kingdom  to  which  Charlemagne  had  fallen  heir 
enlarged  to  an  empire. 

On  Christmas  Day,  800,  Pope  Leo  III,  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  distinguished  services 
to  both  state  and  church,  completed  a  great 
drama  by  crowning  Charlemagne  in  St.  Peter's, 
thus  giving  ecclesiastical  recognition  to  the 
foundation  of  the  Christian  Empire  of  the 
West.  This  union  of  the  north  and  south, 
Franks  and  Romans,  after  three  hundred  and 
twenty-four  years  of  the  predominance  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  over  the  West,  identified 
Goths,  Burgundians,  Franks,  Lombards,  Sax- 
ons, and  Anglians  with  the  great  Christian 
idea  of  a  new  empire  founded  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  greatl}^  concerns  modern  European 
Christianity.  Rarely  has  the  history  of  the 
world  furnished  such  a  tableau  vivant  as  the 
parting  of  the  emperor  and  the  Pope,  when 
Charlemagne  and  his  magnificent  retinue  left 
Rome  to  make  their  way  back  over  the  Campa- 
nian  Hills  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  favorite  seat 
of  the  emperor. 

Charlemagne,  though  unlettered  himself,  was 
wise  enough  to  see  that  if  he  would  save  gov- 
ernment and  societ}^  there  must  be  schools  and 
teachers.      Lono^  before  he  went  to  Rome  he 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  89 

had  established,  in  addition  to  seminaries, 
grammar  and  public  schools,  which  served  the 
same  purpose  as  preparatory  schools  of  modern 
times  ;  and  it  was  required  by  imperial  edict 
that  all  monasteries  and  cathedrals  should  sus- 
tain these  nurseries  of  the  church  and  state. 
Charlemagne  is  reported  to  have  founded  at 
least  fifty  institutions  of  learning,  whose  stud- 
ies embraced  the  old  Trivium  of  grammar,  logic, 
and  rhetoric,  and  Quadrivium  of  music,  as- 
tronomy, arithmetic,  and  geometry.  Music 
was  specialized  for  the  chants  of  the  religious 
service.  Libraries  were  established,  copies  of 
the  Scriptures  were  found  among  the  people, 
and  the  homilies  of  the  preachers  were  often  in 
their  native  tongue.  An  illustration  of  the 
change  that  began  to  come  in  the  Western 
Empire  is  indicated  by  the  picture  of  Charle- 
magne when  not  absorbed  in  affairs  of  state. 
After  a  fashion  that  has  often  prevailed  in 
different  ages,  his  name  among  his  friends  be- 
came "King  David."  The  best  Greek  scholar 
at  court  was  called  "Homer."  Alcuin  was 
known  by  the  name  of  "  Horace,"  and  another 
court  poet  as  "Virgil." 

Charlemagne  had  been  wise  enough  to  call  to 
his  aid  Alcuin  of  York  (735  ?-80-i),  England's 
most  renowned  scholar.     He  was  the  pupil  of 


90  VIA   CHRISTI 

the  venerable  Bede,  and  under  the  imperial 
patronage,  from  782  to  796,  achieved  the  great- 
est victory  of  his  time  for  Christian  education. 
He  objected  to  Charlemagne's  methods  of  en- 
forcing the  Christian  faith,  saying  :  — 

"  Faith  must  be  accepted  voluntarily,  and  can- 
not be  enforced.  A  man  must  be  drawn  to  it, 
he  cannot  be  compelled  to  accept  it ;  you  may 
drive  men  to  baptism,  but  you  cannot  make 
them  take  a  single  step  toward  religion.  There- 
fore it  is  that  those  who  would  evangelize  the 
heathen  should  address  them  prudently  and 
temperately  ;  for  the  Lord  knows  the  hearts  of 
his  chosen  ones,  and  opens  them  to  understand 
his  word.  .  .  .  Let  the  preachers  of  the  faith, 
then,  learn  by  the  example  of  the  apostles  ;  let 
them  be  preachers  and  not  spoilers ;  and  let 
them  trust  in  him  of  whom  the  proj)het  bears 
witness,  that  he  will  never  abandon  those  who 
hope  in  him." 

Alcuin  said  he  wished  to  found  "  a  new,  nay, 
a  more  excellent  Athens  in  Frankland  ;  for,"  he 
added,  "  our  Athens,  being  ennobled  with  the 
mastership  of  Christ  the  Lord,  would  surpass  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  studies  of  the  Academists." 

Pupils  were  of  all  ages,  and  often  of  high 
degree.  Among  them  was  the  wife  of  Charle- 
magne himself,  who  is  thus  described :  — 


CHABLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  91 

"  Among  them  sits  the  fair  lady  Luitgard, 
resplendent  in  mind  and  pious  in  heart.  Sim- 
ple and  noble  alike  confess  her  fair  in  her  ac- 
complishments, and  fairer  yet  in  her  virtues. 
Her  hand  is  generous,  her  disposition  gentle, 
and  her  speech  most  sweet.  She  is  a  blessing 
to  all,  and  a  harm  to  none.  Ardently  pursuing 
the  best  studies,  she  stores  the  liberal  arts  in 
the  retentive  repository  of  her  mind." 

Longfellow,  in  "  The  Student's  Tale  "  (Tales 
of  a  Wayside  Inn),  gives  us  a  winsome  picture 
of  both  Alcuin  and  the  schools  founded  by 
Charlemagne. 

"  When  Alcuin  taught  the  sons  of  Charlemagne, 
In  the  free  schools  of  Aix,  how  kings  should 

reign, 
And  with  them  taught  the  children  of  the  poor 
How  subjects  should  be  patient  and  endure, 
He  touched  the  lips  of  some,  as  best  befit. 
With  honey  from  the  hives  of  Holy  Writ ; 
Others  intoxicated  with  the  wine 
Of  ancient  history,  sweet,  but  less  divine  ; 
Some  with  the  wholesome  fruits  of  grammar 

fed. 
Others  with  mysteries  of  the  stars  overhead, 
That  hang  suspended  in  the  vaulted  sky, 
Like  lamps  in  some  fair  palace,  vast  and  high. 


92  VIA   CHBISTI 

In  sooth,  it  was  a  pleasant  sight  to  see 
That  Saxon  monk,  with  hood  and  rosary, 
With  inkhorn  at  his  belt,  and  pen  and  book, 
And  mingled  love  and  reverence  in  his  look, 
Or  hear  the  cloister  and  the  court  repeat 
^  The  measured  footfalls  of  his  sandaled  feet, 
Or  watch  him  with  the  pupils  of  his  school. 
Gentle  of  speech,  but  absolute  of  rule." 

In  Northwestern  Europe  (Northern  Germany^ 
Denmark^  and  Scandinavia).  — The  message  of 
the  Gospel  was  now  travelling  toward  the  north, 

among 

"  The  hosts 
Of  heathen  swarming  o'er  the  northern  sea." 

Here  it  met  with  more  tardy  reception  in  the 
climate  of  fierce  winds  and  warriors,  whose 
wild  and  stormy  beliefs,  inculcated  by  the 
priests,  and  supported  by  the  spirit  of  conflict 
taught  in  the  Eddas,  naturally  opposed  them- 
selves vigorously  to  a  gospel  containing  such 
precepts  as  "Love  your  enemies,  do  good  to 
them  which  hate  you,  bless  them  that  curse 
you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use 
you."  Yet  events  proved  that  these  believers 
in  one  Supreme  Being  were,  from  that  very 
fact,  good  material  for  missionary  endeavor. 
Dwarfs  and  elves,  sacred  oaks,  like  the  Thun- 


CHABLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  93 

cler-oak  of  Thor  that  Boniface  hewed  down, 
or  the  great  World-tree,  the  sacred  ash,  Ygg- 
drasil,  with  its  three  roots,  might  have  their 
part  in  their  religious  system  of  nature-wor- 
ship and  hero-worship,  but  nothing  turned 
them  from  the  central  faith  contained  in  this 
single  question  and  answer,  which  is  taken 
from  the  sacred  Eddas  :  — 

"  Who  is  the  first  and  eldest  of  the  gods  ?  " 
"  He  is  called  Alfadir  (All-father)  in  our 
tongue.  He  lives  from  all  ages,  and  rules  over 
his  realm,  and  sways  all  things,  great  and 
small ;  he  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  lift 
—  that  is,  the  sky  —  and  all  that  belongs  to 
them  ;  and,  what  is  more,  he  made  man,  and 
gave  him  a  soul  that  shall  live  and  never  per- 
ish, though  the  body  rot  to  mould  or  burn  to 
ashes.  His  is  an  infinite  power,  a  boundless 
knowledge,  an  incorruptible  justice.  He  can- 
not be  confined  within  the  enclosure  of  walls, 
or  represented  by  any  likeness  to  the  human 
figure." 

Tlie  Teutons  were  much  more  independent 
than  the  Celts.  Out  of  their  worship  of  na- 
ture had  grown  a  love  of  freedom  which  made 
them  obey  their  king  only  so  long  as  they  had 
confidence  in  him,  and  dispose  of  him  when  he 
had  forfeited  their  respect.     Out  of  the  wor- 


94  VIA   CHBI8TI 

ship  of  nature,  too,  had  grown,  as  in  the  Greek 
culture,  reverence  for  oracles  and  signs,  and 
all  the  agents  through  which  mysterious  mes- 
sages could  be  conveyed,  so  that  Upsala  was 
to  the  northern  tribes  as  Delphi  or  Dodona 
to  the  people  of  Hellas.  When  a  bell-tower 
became  erected  in  any  region,  a  great  victory 
was  won,  for  the  superstition  prevailed  that 
with  the  ringing  of  the  Christian  church-bell 
the  people  were  beguiled  as  with  the  pipe  of 
the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,  and  no  longer 
were  able  to  control  their  own  wills. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  this  region  is  that  it  was  accomplished 
through  royal  patronage,  and  that  the  kings 
usually  sent  to  England  for  missionaries  to 
aid  them  in  the  effort.  Royalty  was  equal  to 
the  warlike  task  of  overthrowing  idols,  but 
not  to  the  gentler  office  of  teaching  the  pre- 
cepts of  Christ.  Many  incidents  of  this  period 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  ancient  proph- 
ecy should  read  :  "To  the  rich  the  gospel  is 
preached." 

The  first  missionary  to  the  Danes  was  Willi- 
brord  (657-738),  who  entered  about  696,  under 
the  protection  of  temporary  political  favor. 
But  the  Northumbrian  apostle  was,  within  a 
year,  rejected  by  the  Danes.     As  he  left  their 


CHARLEMAGNE   TO  BERNARD  95 

country  he  bought  thirty  young  Jutes,  taking 
them  back  to  EngLand  in  order  to  educate  them 
for  the  future  evangelization  of  Denmark.  Be- 
fore he  started,  much  to  the  scandal  of  the 
pagans,  he  baptized  his  proteges  in  their  sacred 
pool. 

The  next  great  missionary  to  Denmark  is 
Ebo,  Bishop  of  Rheims,  Archbishop  of  France, 
who  entered  the  country  in  823.  No  archbish- 
ops go  as  missionaries  in  our  day  ;  in  those  days, 
as  in  the  old  stories  of  knights  seeking  perilous 
service,  so  these  knights  of  the  Cross  would 
offer  themselves  temporarily  for  high  under- 
takings, setting  an  example  sure  of  an  after 
following. 

About  the  same  time,  under  the  patronage 
of  Louis  the  Pious,  Ansgar  (800  ?-865),  called 
by  Europeans  "the  ideal  missionary,"  by  one 
biographer  the  first  medical  missionary,  went 
to  Scandinavia,  to  become  the  veritable  Apostle 
of  the  North.  Ansgar  was  a  youth  at  the  death 
of  Charlemagne,  and  was  so  overcome  by  the 
death  of  the  emperor,  for  whom  he  had  an 
exalted  admiration,  that  he  devoted  himself 
from  that  moment  to  the  thought  of  the  genu- 
ine Christianization  of  the  country  that  Charle- 
magne had  formally  made  Christian.  Ansgar's 
education  was  in  Picardy  in  France,  followed 


96  VIA   CHRISTI 

by  a  teacher's  experience  in  Saxony.  When 
the  king  of  Denmark  appealed  to  Louis  the 
Pious  (814-840)  for  aid,  it  was  promised,  on 
condition  that  the  Danish  king  should  accept 
the  Christian  religion.  Harold,  the  king,  as- 
sented, but  it  was  a  service  of  danger  to  accom- 
pany the  newly  baptized  Christian  ruler  back 
to  the  kingdom  from  which  he  had  been  exiled, 
and  Ansgar  was  the  heroic  missionary  elected 
for  the  office.  So  successful  was  his  mission, 
and  the  schools  which  he  founded,  that  when 
the  emperor  of  Sweden  sent  a  petition  for 
Christian  teachers,  Ansgar,  who  had  been  so 
competent  a  pioneer  missionary  in  Denmark, 
was  taken  from  his  mission,  even  then  in  its 
infancy,  to  answer  the  Macedonian  cry  from 
Sweden.  His  journey  thither  reminds  one  of 
Paul's  to  Rome.  Pirates  took  his  ship  and 
belongings,  but,  Avith  thanksgiving  for  a  spared 
life,  he  made  the  rest  of  his  journey  on  foot, 
met  the  king  of  the  country,  Bjorn,  and  one  of 
his  first  converts  was  the  prime  minister  of  the 
king,  who,  with  Frideborg,  a  woman  of  wealth 
and  influence,  became  very  powerful  in  further- 
ing the  interests  of  Christianity  in  Sweden. 

For  a  year  and  a  half  all  went  well,  with  an 
archbishopric  in  Hamburg,  with  Ansgar  in  the 
chair.     Ansgar  visited  back  and  forth  to  the 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  97 

mission  in  Denmark  and  that  in  Sweden,  when 
disaster  overtook  the  two  infant  enterprises. 
The  attack  of  the  heathen  Danes  and  vikings 
on  the  church  building,  school,  and  library  at 
Hamburg,  with  the  complete  destruction  of 
them  all,  even  to  the  Bible  which  was  a  pre- 
cious possession  in  those  days,  with  the  slaugh- 
ter and  exile  of  missionaries,  reads  like  the 
modern  attack  of  the  Boxers  on  Pekin,  and  for 
several  years  it  was  unsafe  to  return  to  the 
Swedish  mission. 

About  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  the 
undaunted  Ansgar,  against  the  entreaties  of 
his  friends,  taking  for  his  motto  the  words  of 
the  prophet  Jeremiah,  "  He  shall  make  thee 
glorious,"  started  on  a  second  mission,  pro- 
ceeding as  before  directly  to  the  king,  who 
was  now  Olaf.  Nearly  seventeen  years  had 
passed  away,  and  a  new  set  of  people,  for  the 
most  part,  made  up  the  assembly,  who  decided 
by  lot  to  favor  the  free  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  result  was  far  beyond  Ansgar's 
prayer  and  faith.  Paganism  was  gradually 
driven  out  through  famous  successive  mission- 
aries, like  Siegfried,  BoduU,  and  Siegward; 
but  even  so  late  as  the  close  of  the  eleventh 
century  the  king  of  Upper  Sweden  was  perse- 
cuted in  Upsala  for  his  Christianity.     Finally, 


98  VIA   CHBISTI 

Eric  of  the  twelfth  century  brought  Sweden 
with  a  loyal  heart  into  the  family  of  Christian 
nations.  The  secret  of  Ansgar's  success  as 
a  missionary  was  that  his  life  was  one  con- 
tinual prayer.  Like  Paul,  he  would  burden 
no  one  with  his  support,  and  employed  himself 
making  nets  for  the  fishermen.  One  prayer  of 
his  heart  was  denied  him.  He  had  hoped  God 
would  count  him  worthy  to  join  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs.  He  died  in  865,  and  was  buried  in 
St.  Peter's  Church  at  Bremen,  with  a  great 
letter  S  (Saint)  placed  the  day  after  his  death 
upon  his  grave.  Three  quarters  of  a  century 
ago  both  Denmark  and  Sweden  held  a  millen- 
nial celebration  over  the  "  Ideal  Missionary," 
Ansgar,  to  whom  they  owe  the  foundation  of 
their  Christianity. 

In  870  northern  and  eastern  England  were 
conquered  by  the  Danes,  and  over  two  centuries 
went  by  before  Canute  the  Great  (?-1036), 
king  of  England  and  Denmark,  made  Christi- 
anity the  religion  of  his  kingdom.  Until  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century  Denmark  added 
names  to  the  book  of  martyrs. 

East  Prussia  was  a  particularly  hard  field, 
which  was  Christianized  at  the  cost  of  many 
noble  lives.  Sometimes,  in  those  rude  days, 
subjects  of  chiefs  or  petty  kings  accepted  Chris- 


CHABLEMAGNE  TO  BEBNARD  99 

tianity  through  force.  Once,  at  least,  the 
fashion  prevailed  of  giving  a  coat  to  every- 
body who  received  baptism. 

The  story  of  Christianizing  Germany  and 
Scandinavia  is  a  thousand  years  long,  and  of 
it  Mr.  Barnes  says  :  — 

"That  millennium  is  a  complete  answer  to 
flippant  critics  who  decry  modern  missionary 
efforts  because  in  a  few  scores  of  years  the  vast 
populations  of  Asia  have  not  accepted  Christi- 
anity. Germany  was  a  thinly  peopled  forest 
of  uncivilized,  unsophisticated  people.  Ten 
millenniums  would  be  no  longer,  in  proportion 
to  the  numbers  and  the  profoundly  intrenched 
religions  of  India  and  China,  than  one  millen- 
nium was  for  Germanic  lands." 

In  Iceland.  —  The  celebration  of  the  millen- 
nium of  Iceland  in  1870  awakened  fresh  interest 
in  this  old  Norse  settlement,  which,  after  exist- 
ing as  a  republic  four  hundred  years,  became 
subject  to  Norway  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  to  Denmark  in  1380,  with  whom  it  still 
remains.  Iceland  had  been  colonized  in  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries  by  some  of  the 
choicest  noble  families,  who  left  Norway  in 
much  the  same  spirit  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
emigrated  to  America,  though  their  gods  were 
the  Norse  gods,  Odin  and  Thor.     So  loyal  were 


100  VIA   CHBI8TI 

they  to  these  deities  that  when  an  Icelander, 
returning  from  Saxony,  where  he  had  become  a 
Christian,  with  the  priest  who  had  baptized 
him,  endeavored  to  start  a  mission  in  981,  he 
labored  for  seven  years,  only  to  be  banished  b}'' 
law  in  988.  But  the  precious  seed  had  been 
planted,  and  could  not  be  voted  out  by  the  All- 
thing  (Parliament).  Mr.  Barnes  tells  us  this 
entertaining  story  in  the  early  portion  of  that 
seven  years'  labor :  "  Frederick,  the  priest, 
had  pitched  his  tent  near  a  heathen  temple  and 
began  to  preach  to  the  crowds.  The  wife  of 
the  chief  man  of  the  neighborhood  was  greatly 
annoyed  that  a  new  religion  should  be  preached. 
So  she  went  into  the  temple  and  began  to  pray 
with  all  her  might  to  Thor.  It  was  a  question 
for  a  while  who  had  the  more  commanding 
voice,  the  lady  of  the  manor  or  the  missionary." 
The  story  has  a  striking  resemblance  to  another 
praying  match  recorded  in  1  Kings  xviii.  19-39. 
In  the  year  1000  Christianity  was  made  the 
religion  of  Iceland,  although  for  several  years 
there  was  secret  idol-v/orship,  the  exposure  of 
children  to  death,  and  similar  heathen  practices. 
King  Olaf  Tryggvasson  had  continued  to  send 
missionaries  from  Norway,  until  under  a  suc- 
ceeding sovereign  Iceland  was  won  for  all  time 
to  Christ. 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  101 

The  Year  of  Doom.  —  The  darkest  years  in 
manners,  morals,  and  religion  which  the  world 
has  ever  seen  were  those  that  closed  the  tenth 
century.  The  worship  of  relics  and  saints  had 
been  carried  to  such  a  degree,  and  spectacular 
processions  had  so  taken  the  place  of  the  on- 
ward march  of  the  church  toward  God,  that  the 
church  commanded  almost  as  little  respect  as 
the  laity,  who  had  given  itself  up  to  every 
form  of  corrupt  life.  Possibly  it  was  the  very 
wickedness  of  the  times  that  spread  abroad  the 
belief  that  at  the  close  of  one  thousand  years 
from  the  date  of  the  Saviour's  birth  there  would 
be  a  universal  dissolution  of  material  things. 
Such  a  hold  had  this  belief  on  the  church  of 
Christ  in  general,  that  land  was  left  unculti- 
vated, houses  and  strongholds  unrepaired,  and 
the  common  people  crowded  about  the  churches, 
while  the  more  depraved  and  despicable  seized 
the  opportunity  of  easily  despoiling  their  neigh- 
bors. Revelation  xx.  2,  3  was  the  scriptural 
foundation  of  this  wild  superstition ;  but  when 
the  year  passed  and  the  world  still  stood,  there 
was  a  great  reaction  in  the  popular  heart.  Hope 
produced  desire  for  action,  and,  as  a  kind  of 
general  thankoffering  for  what  seemed  a  great 
deliverance,  the  thought  of  the  Christian  world 
expressed  itself  in  two  forms.     First,  the  erec- 


102  VIA   CIIBISTI 

tion  of  great  cathedrals  or  the  renovation  of 
churches,  formerly  beautiful,  that  had  fallen 
into  decay,  and,  under  this  new  spell,  the 
science  of  architecture  received  one  of  its  great- 
est forward  movements.  Every  part  of  the 
church  was  made  to  have  some  mystical  mean- 
ing, from  the  beautiful  spire  to  the  tiny  finial. 
Enthusiasm  for  God's  house  was  attended  by 
greater  reverence  for  him  whom  they  entreated 
to  come  and  dwell  within  it. 

In  the  /Slavic  Regions^  or  Early  Russia.  — 
Early  Slavs,  the  ancestors  of  the  Russians, 
were  reported  to  be  peaceful  in  character  and 
hospitable  to  strangers.  But  as  the  natural 
disposition  of  a  child  may  be  spoiled  by  ill 
treatment,  so  the  native  gentle  and  truthful 
character  of  the  Slavs  changed  to  a  disposition 
of  cruelty  and  duplicity,  as  they  were  harassed 
in  turn  by  the  Teutons,  the  Turks,  and  the 
Mongols,  from  the  north,  south,  and  east,  re- 
spectively. 

The  Slavic  regions  were  Christianized  from 
a  Thessalonican  centre  (see  Acts  xvii.).  On 
the  Volga  River,  in  the  seventh  century,  lived 
a  race  of  Tatar  blood,  known  as  Bulgarians. 
They  had  crossed  the  Danube  and  conquered 
the  Slavonic  tribes,  but  took  the  language  of 
the   people    they    had    overcome.       Down    in 


CHABLEMAGNE  TO  BEBXABD  103 

Thessalonica  there  were  two  brothers  in  direct 
descent  from  the  early  Christian  church  founded 
by  Paul,  and  thus  of  Christian  birth  and  nur- 
ture. Their  names  were  Cyril  (815?-868)  and 
Methodius  (?-885).  They  were  educated  in 
a  cloister,  but  it  is  remembered  that  the 
cloisters  of  the  Eastern  Empire  were  Greek, 
and  had  a  fineness  of  culture  unknown  to  the 
Western  monastery,  founded  in  later  years 
among  barbarians.  When  a  call  came  to  Thes- 
salonica for  missionaries  to  go  to  Crimea  to  aid 
the  king  of  the  Cazars,  a  Turanian  folk,  trying 
to  decide  which  of  the  three  religions,  Jewish, 
Mohammedan,  or  Christian,  should  displace 
idolatry,  Cyril  answered.  He  returned  to 
Constantinople,  only  to  start  again,  in  company 
with  his  brother,  in  861,  to  the  savage  Bulgari- 
ans and  their  more  savage  king,  Bogoris.  Cyril 
was  a  philosophical  scholar  and  Methodius  an 
artist,  an  early  Fra  Angelico,  who  knew  how  to 
paint  picture  sermons.  So  effective  was  the 
brush  of  the  artist-missionary  that  people  were 
brought  to  Christ  through  his  picture  repre- 
sentations of  scenes  from  the  life  of  the  Lord. 
One  version  of  the  story  reads  thus  :  — 

Bogoris  would  none  of  the  religion,  but  he 
was  delighted  with  the  picture-making,  and 
demanded    of    Methodius,    the    artist  brother, 


104  VIA   CHRISTI 

to  place  on  the  great  wall  of  his  house  a  pic- 
ture which  should  fill  the  beholder  with  fear 
of  the  royal  power.  Methodius  had  in  mind 
only  the  fear  of  the  "  Master  of  All  Good  Work- 
men," and  he  drew  the  thing  as  he  saw  it  "  for 
the  God  of  Things  as  they  are."  And  when 
the  Scene  of  the  Last  Judgment  was  unveiled 
before  the  king  and  his  mighty  men,  this  pro- 
totype of  the  stereopticon  evangelist  had  his 
heart's  desire,  in  seeing  the  king  and  his  subjects 
yield  to  baptism,  and  Christianity  established 
in  Bulgaria.  The  little  kingdom  won,  about 
863,  the  missionaries,  like  a  Paul  and  Silas  of 
medigevalism,  pursued  their  way  far  toward  the 
northwest  to  the  court  of  Ratislav,  king  of 
Moravia,  whence  they  worked,  through  royal 
patronage,  both  in  Moravia  and  Bohemia.  The 
brothers  performed  a  great  missionary  work  as 
evangelists,  but  their  greatest  service  was  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  and  the  Liturgy  into 
Slavonian,  a  Bible  whose  language  is  to-day 
to  the  Russian  what  the  Gothic  is  to  the  Ger- 
man, and  which  is  also  literally  and  spiritually 
the  first  of  books.  In  the  history  of  missions 
it  will  be  seen  that  a  direct  line  can  be  traced 
from  the  answer  to  the  call  of  the  man  of 
Macedon  to  the  modern  Christian  church 
under  the  Moravian  mission. 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNABD  105 

The  question  as  to  whether  Slavonic  Chris- 
tianity should  be  Latinized  took  Methodius  to 
the  Pope  more  than  once,  and  made  him  many 
enemies  of  those  people  who  opposed  the  Bible 
for  the  people  in  the  tongue  of  the  people. 

Clement,  a  disciple  of  Methodius  and  mis- 
sionary in  Bulgaria,  is  another  fine  example, 
pre-dating  the  modern  missionary  methods. 
He  brought  himself  into  the  understanding  of 
the  people,  saw  the  importance  of  training  the 
children,  worked  at  industrial  missions  by  in- 
troducing different  kinds  of  fruits  and  vege- 
tables, and  ushered  in  a  good  standard  of  church 
architecture. 

In  many  an  art  gallery  may  be  found  the 
picture  of  the  baptism  of  the  Princess  Olga, 
the  first  prominent  disciple  of  Christ  in  Russia, 
who,  in  955,  journeyed  to  Constantinople  to 
learn  more  of  the  Christian  faith.  Her  in- 
quiries led  to  her  baptism  while  in  the  city. 
Yet  the  flow  of  Christianity  from  this  royal 
source  was  a  varying  stream,  choked  by  Olga's 
grandson,  Vladimir,  who  was  a  pagan  of  pagans, 
offering  human  sacrifices  in  any  great  stress 
of  experience.  But  Vladimir  finally  became 
Christian,  after  the  fashion  of  many  another 
sign-seeking  chief  of  those  days,  vowing  that  if 
he  succeeded  in  taking  the  stronghold  Kherson, 


106  VIA    CHBISTI 

in  the  Crimea,  and  if  he  might  have  the  sister 
of  the  Greek  emperor,  the  Christian  Princess 
Ann,  as  his  wife,  he  would  adopt  Christianity 
as  the  state  religion.  Vladimir  was  beset  by 
missionaries  from  the  Mohammedan,  Roman, 
and  Greek  churches,  as  well  as  by  the  ancient 
Jewish  church,  each  presenting  the  claims  of 
his  religion,  before  he  finally  committed  himself 
and  his  people  to  Christianity.  The  story  of 
carrying  the  gospel  to  Russia  differs  from  that 
of  other  nations  in  that  it  is  not  accompanied 
by  persecution.  The  people  followed  Vladimir 
in  a  simple  faith,  and  the  Bible  had  been 
prepared  for  them  a  hundred  years  before  by 
Cyril  and  Methodius. 

As  the  Sacred  Oak  of  Thor,  so  was  the  great 
idol  on  the  island  of  Riigen,  in  the  temple  at 
Arcona,  to  the  Slavonian  people  of  the  Baltic 
region.  It  was  of  gigantic  size,  with  four 
heads  and  two  trunks.  Its  worship  was  sup- 
ported by  taxes,  war  spoils,  and  votive  offerings, 
and  its  festivals  accompanied  by  libations  and 
offerings  of  cakes  and  honey.  This  idol  was 
not  destroyed  till  far  into  the  twelfth  century. 

In  Africa.  —  An  overwhelming  regret  for 
lost  opportunity  accompanies  the  study  of  the 
later  missions  in  Africa.  The  school  at  Alex- 
andria was  to  Latin  Christianity  the  standard 
of  theology,  and  was  warmly  interested  in  mis- 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  107 

sions  at  its  earlier  foundation,  when  its  presi- 
dent, Pantgenus,  went  himself  to  India.  But  in 
after  centuries  it  became  a  great  centre  for  theo- 
logical discussions,  spending  in  endless  contro- 
versies the  strength  that  might  have  been  used 
a  millennium  ago  to  keep  Africa  from  being 
known  in  our  century  as  the  Dark  Continent. 
Nevertheless  the  Coptic  church,  like  the  Nes- 
torian  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  was  so  firmly 
grounded  that  it  yet  exists,  the  sects  that  had 
held  what  were  generally  counted  heresies  being 
less  disturbed  by  the  Mohammedan  conquests 
than  those  that  were  aggressively  Christian. 
Missionaries  sent  from  time  to  time  were  usu- 
ally added  to  the  roll  of  martyrs. 

In  China.  —  In  the  ninth  century  we  find  a 
great  reaction  in  China  against  foreign  reli- 
gions. After-records  state  that  two  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  Buddhist  monks  and  nuns 
and  three  thousand  Christian  propagandists 
were  all  included  under  this  edict  :  ^'  As  to 
the  religions  of  foreign  nations,  let  the  men 
who  teach  them,  as  well  as  those  of  Ta  Ts'in 
as  of  Mu-hu-pi,  amounting  to  more  than  three 
thousand  persons,  be  required  to  resume  the 
ways  of  ordinary  life,  and  their  unsubstantial 
talkings  no  more  be  heard."  It  was  not  until 
the  eleventh  century  that  missionaries  again 
found    opportunity    to    penetrate    the    land    of 


108  VIA    CHRISTI 

Sinim.  It  was  during  the  time  of  the  great 
Mongol  rulers  of  Asia  and  the  Tatars,  when 
China  was  known  as  Cathay  and  its  environ- 
ment Tatary.  This  mission  began  in  the 
eleventh  century  and  lasted  about  four  hun- 
dred years,  to  be  overthrown  at  last  by  the  in- 
famous Jenghiz  Khan,  who  is  said  to  have  been 
such  a  scourge  of  the  earth  as  to  have  caused 
in  his  bloody  conquests  the  destruction  of  five 
millions  of  human  beings. 

The  story  of  the  Pope's  missionary  ambassa- 
dors to  the  Tatar  sovereigns,  several  of  whom 
went  by  the  mythical  name  of  Prester  John, 
must  have  reached  Shakespeare,  when  he  makes 
Benedick  say  to  Dom  Pedro  in  "  Much  Ado 
About  Nothing,"  "  Will  your  grace  command 
me  any  service  to  the  world's  end  ?  I  will  go 
on  the  slightest  errand  now  to  the  antipodes, 
that  you  can  devise  to  send  me  on  ;  I  will  fetch 
you  a  toothpicker  now  from  the  farthest  inch 
of  Asia  ;  bring  you  the  length  of  Prester  John's 
foot;  fetch  you  a  hair  off  the  great  Cham's 
beard  ;  do  you  any  embassage  to  the  Pigmies — 
rather  than  hold  three  words'  conference  with 
this  harpy." 

The  second  mission  was  largely  among  the 
Tatars,  when  the  people  known  as  the  Kerait 
Tatars,  north  of  the  Hoang-Ho,  were  for- 
mally made  Christians  by  their  ruler,  who  sent 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  109 

to  Bagdad  to  the  Nestorian  patriarch  for  mis- 
sionaries for  his  people,  asserting  that  many 
were  to  be  baptized.  At  least  two  emperors 
protected  Christianity,  and  a  Nestorian  church 
flourished,  claiming  a  membership  of  two  hun- 
dred thousand,  among  the  Tatars,  until  it  was 
overthrown  in  the  general  devastation  wrought 
by  Tamerlane  (1334-1405). 

In  India.  —  Several  attempts  were  made  to 
conquer  India  by  Islam,  resulting  in  a  firm 
foothold  for  Mohammedanism  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eleventh  century  ;  but  it  took  three  cen- 
turies more  before  the  Mohammedan  rule,  sub- 
ject since  1858  to  Great  Britain,  was  a  dominion 
of  authority. 

Charlemagne's  plan  had  been  as  sagacious  as 
great,  but  it  was  like  a  shaft  of  light  thrown 
across  a  dark  sky.  After  his  time,  the  barba- 
rism which  demanded  more  than  one  age  for 
conquest  again  prevailed  until,  about  the  year 
1000,  such  was  the  state  of  general  anarchy 
that  the  only  safety  was  in  the  strongholds 
built  by  the  lords,  who  made  the  common 
people  their  bondsmen,  or  in  the  monastery, 
which  was  only  another  kind  of  fortress.  With 
court  or  cowl  the  weaker  took  shelter,  and  the 
beautiful  vision  of  a  universal  Christian  empire 
again  faded,  to  become,  in  other  centuries,  the 
unrealized  dream  of  the  idealist. 


110  VIA   CHBISTI 

SELECTIONS   FROM  THE   PERIOD 

A  Homily 

"  If  you  planted  a  tree  in  your  garden,  and 
tied  it  up  on  all  sides  so  that  it  could  not  stretch 
forth  its  branches,  what  sort  of  a  tree  would  it 
turn  out  when,  after  some  years,  you  gave  it 
room  to  spread  ?  Would  it  not  be  good  for 
nothing,  full  of  tangled  and  crooked  boughs  ? 
And  whose  fault  would  this  be  but  yours,  who 
had  put  such  constant  constraint  upon  it?  And 
this  is  just  what  you  do  with  your  boys.  You 
plant  them  in  the  garden  of  the  church,  that 
they  may  grow  and  bear  fruit  to  God.  But 
you  so  cramp  them  round  with  terrors  and 
threats  and  blows  that  they  are  utterly  de- 
barred from  the  enjoyment  of  any  freedom. 
And  thus  injudiciously  kept  down  they  collect 
in  their  minds  evil  thoughts  tangled  like  thorns ; 
they  cherish  and  feed  them,  and  with  dogged 
temper  elude  all  that  might  help  to  correct 
them.  And  hence  it  comes  that  they  see  noth- 
ing in  you  of  love,  or  kindness,  or  good  will ; 
they  cannot  believe  that  you  mean  any  good  by 
them,  and  put  down  all  you  do  to  dislike  and 
ill  nature.       Hatred   and   mistrust   grow  with 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  111 

tliem  as  they  grow ;  and  they  go  about  with 
downcast  eyes  and  cannot  look  you  in  the  face. 
But,  for  the  love  of  God,  I  wish  you  would  tell 
me  why  you  are  so  harsh  with  them.  Are  they 
not  human  beings?  Would  you  like,  if  you 
were  what  they  are,  to  be  treated  as  you  treat 
them  ?  You  try  by  blows  and  stripes  to 
fashion  them  to  good ;  did  you  ever  see  a 
craftsman  fashion  a  fair  image  out  of  a  plate 
of  gold  or  silver  by  blows  alone  ?  Does  he  not 
with  his  tools  now  gently  press  and  strike  it, 
now  with  wise  art  gently  raise  and  shape  it  ? 
So,  if  you  mould  your  boys  to  good,  you  must, 
along  with  the  stripes  that  are  to  bow  them 
down,  lift  them  up  and  assist  them  by  fatherly 
kindness  and  gentleness."  —  Anselm  (1034- 
1109).  

Prayers 


"  Almighty  and  merciful  God,  the  Fountain  of 
all  goodness,  who  knowest  the  thoughts  of  our 
hearts,  we  confess  unto  thee  that  we  have 
sinned  against  thee,  and  done  evil  in  thy  sight. 
Wash  us,  we  beseech  thee,  from  the  stains  of 
our  past  sins,  and  give  us  grace  and  power  to 
put  away  all  hurtful  things  ;  so  that,  being  de- 


112  VIA    CHRISTI 

livered  from  the  bondage  of  sin,  we  may  bring 
forth  worthy  fruits  of  repentance. 

"  O  eternal  Light,  shine  into  our  hearts.  O 
eternal  Goodness,  deliver  us  from  evil.  O  eter- 
nal Power,  be  thou  our  support.  Eternal  Wis- 
dom, scatter  the  darkness  of  our  ignorance. 
Eternal  Pity,  have  mercy  upon  us.  Grant  unto 
us  that  with  all  our  hearts  and  minds  and 
strength  we  may  evermore  seek  thy  face ;  and 
finally  bring  us,  in  thine  infinite  mercy,  to  thy 
holy  presence.  So  strengthen  our  weakness  that, 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  thy  blessed  Son, 
we  may  obtain  thy  mercy,  and  enter  into  thy 
promised  Joy.     Amen."  —  Alcuin  (735-804). 

II 

"  Give  me,  O  Lord,  purity  of  lips,  a  clean  and 
innocent  heart,  humility,  fortitude,  patience. 
Give  me  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understand- 
ing, the  Spirit  of  counsel  and  strength,  the 
Spirit  of  knowledge  and  godliness,  and  of  thy 
fear.  Make  me  ever  to  seek  thy  face  with  all 
my  heart,  all  my  soul,  all  my  mind;  grant  me 
to  have  a  contrite  and  humble  heart  in  thy 
presence.  Most  high,  eternal,  and  ineffable 
Wisdom,  drive  away  from  me  the  darkness  of 
blindness  and  ignorance  ;  most  high  and  eternal 
Strength,  deliver  me;    most  high  and  eternal 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BEBNABD  113 

Light,  illuminate  me ;  most  high  and  infinite 
Mercy,  have  mercy  on  me.  Amen."  —  G-allican 
Sacramentary  (800). 


Hymns 


The  Finished  Course 

Safe  home,  safe  home  in  port ; 

Strained  cordage,  shattered  deck, 
Torn  sails,  provisions  short, 

And  only  not  a  wreck  ; 
But,  oh,  the  joy,  upon  the  shore, 
To  tell  our  voyage-perils  o'er  ! 

The  prize,  the  prize  secure  I 
The  wrestler  nearly  fell ; 

Bore  all  he  could  endure. 
And  bore  not  always  well ; 

But  he  may  smile  at  troubles  gone 

Who  sets  the  victor's  garland  on. 

No  more  the  foe  can  harm ; 

No  more  of  leaguered  camp, 
And  cry  of  night  alarm. 

And  need  of  ready  lamp  ; 
And  yet  how  nearly  he  had  failed ! 
How  nearly  had  the  foe  prevailed  ! 


114  VIA    CHRISTI 

The  lamb  is  in  tlie  fold, 

In  perfect  safety  penned  ; 
The  lion  once  had  hold, 

And  thought  to  make  an  end ; 
But  One  came  by  with  wounded  side, 
And,  for  the  sheep,  the  Shepherd  died. 

The  exile  is  at  home, 

O  nights  and  days  of  tears ! 
O  longings  not  to  roam  ! 

O  sins  and  doubts  and  fears ! 
What  matters  now  ?  O  joyful  day  ! 
The  King  has  wiped  all  tears  away. 

O  happy,  happy  bride. 

The  widowed  hours  are  past ! 
The  bridegroom  at  thy  side, 
Thou  all  his  own  at  last ; 
The  sorrows  of  thy  former  cup 
In  full  fruition  swallowed  up. 

—  St.  Joseph,  of  the  Studium  (850). 
Translated  by  J.  M.  Neale. 

II 

The  Jerusalem  that  is  Above 

Brief  life  is  here  our  portion  ; 

Brief  sorrow,  short-lived  care  ; 
The  life  that  knows  no  ending. 

The  tearless  life,  is  there. 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  115 

Oh,  happy  retribution, 

Short  toil,  eternal  rest ; 
For  mortals  and  for  sinners 

A  mansion  with  the  blest. 

And  now  we  fight  the  battle, 
But  then  shall  wear  the  crown 

Of  full  and  everlasting 
And  passionless  renown. 

And  now  we  watch  and  struggle, 

And  now  we  live  in  hope ; 
And  Sion  in  her  anguish 

With  Babylon  must  cope  ; 

But  he,  whom  now  we  trust  in. 
Shall  there  be  seen  and  known ; 

And  they  that  know  and  see  him 
Shall  have  him  for  their  own. 

The  morning  shall  awaken. 

The  shadows  flee  away. 
And  each  true-hearted  servant 

Shall  shine  as  doth  the  day. 

There  God,  our  king  and  patron, 

In  fulness  of  his  grace, 
Shall  we  behold  forever, 

And  worship  face  to  face. 

—  Bernard  of  Cluny  (tenth  century?). 


116  VIA   CHRISTI 

Gkeat  Words 

A  letter  of  Charlemagne  to  Offa  of  England, 
795:  — 

"To  our  beloved  friend  and  brother,  Offa, 
greeting.  We  thank  God  for  the  sincere  love 
of  the  Catholic  church  which  we  find  expressed 
in  your  letter  to  us.  As  for  pilgrims  who  wish 
to  approach  the  threshold  of  the  apostles,  let 
them  travel  in  peace  without  any  disquietude. 
If  merchants  come,  let  them  pay  toll  in  the 
accustomed  places  ;  we  take  them  under  our  pro- 
tection. If  they  have  any  complaint,  let  them 
resort  to  us,  or  to  our  judges,  and  they  shall 
have  justice.  We  send  herewith  somewhat 
from  our  store  of  dalmatics  and  palls  to  your 
bishops'  sees  and  to  those  of  Ethelfrid,  begging 
that  you  will  have  intercession  made  for  the 
soul  of  Pope  Hadrian  ;  also  for  yourself  a  bal- 
dric, a  Hunnish  sword,  and  two  silken  cloaks." 

"  The  end  of  the  world  is  at  hand.  The  love 
of  many  waxes  cold.  What  should  we  weak 
mortals  do  but  hold  fast  by  the  doctrine  of 
apostles  and  evangelists  ?  "  —  Alcuin  (735- 
804),  to  Felix  of  Urgel. 

"  One  miracle  I  would,  if  worthy,  ask  the 
Lord  to  grant  me,  and  that  is,  that  by  his  grace 
he  would  make  me  a  good  man."  —  Ansgar 
(800?-865). 


CHARLEMAGNE  TO  BERNARD  117 


THEMES  FOR   STUDY   OR   DISCUSSION 

I.  Translations  of  the  Scriptures. 

II.  Leo  III. 

III.  Wilfred  of  North umbria  and  Lindesfarne. 

IV.  Olaf  Tryggvasson,  King  of  Norway. 
V.  Jenghiz  Khan. 

VI.   Prester  John. 

VII.   The  Missionary  Schools  of  Charlemagne. 
VIII.    Haquin  the  Good. 
IX.   Hildebrand. 

X.   Christian  Women  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
XI.   A  Comparison  of  Methods  pursued  for  the  Intro- 
duction of  Christianity  into  Northern  Europe, 
and  New  Countries  of  our  Own  Day. 
XII.   Elements    introduced    into    Christianity   by   the 
Conquest  of  Northern  Europe. 


BOOKS    OF    REFERENCE 

Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."     (For  I, 

III,  IV,  X.) 
Bryce's  "  Holy  Roman  Empire."     (For  II,  XI,  XII.) 
Davis's  "Charlemagne."     (For  II,  XII.) 
Dowden's  "  Hildebrand."     (For  IV,  IX.) 
Fisher's  "History  of   the  Christian  Church."      (For  I, 

II,  VII,  IX.) 

Green's  "  Making  of  England."     (For  IV.) 

Hunt's  "  English  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages."     (For  I, 

m.) 

Hurst's  "History  of   the  Christian  Church."      (For  II, 

III,  IV,  VI,  VII,  IX.) 

Lane's  "Illustrated  Notes  on  English  Church  History." 

(For  IIL) 
Maclear's  "  The  English."     (For  III.) 


118  VIA   CHRISTI 

Maclear's  "  The  Northmen."     (For  IV,  VIII.) 
Milman's    "Latin    Christianity,"   Vol.   I.      (For    XII.) 

Vol.  II.     (For  11,  IX.) 
Smith's  "Short  History  of  Christian  Missions."      (For 

III,  IV,  X.) 
Storrs's  "  Bernard  of  Clairvaux."     (For  IX.) 
Trench's  "Medieval  Church  History."     (For  II,  III.) 
White's  "  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries."     (For  II,  IX.) 
Williams's  "Middle  Kingdom,"  Vol.  11.     (For  V,  VI.) 


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CHAPTER  IV 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux  to  Luther 

From  the  Crusading  Church  to  the  Reformation 
Twelfth  to  the  Sixteenth  Century 

The  Crusades.  —  It  is  difficult,  in  ages  of 
military  conquest,  migration,  and  religious  per- 
secution, to  discriminate  between  that  which 
directly  and  that  w^hich  indirectly  aids  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  age 
of  the  Crusades  is  preeminently  such  a  period. 
These  remarkable  expeditions,  eight  in  number, 
and  extending  intermittently  through  two  cen- 
turies, have  for  almost  a  thousand  years  given 
their  name  to  vigorous  enterprises,  conducted 
with  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  for  the  reformation 
of  existing  conditions.  The  direct  object  of 
the  mediaeval  Crusades  was  the  recovery  of.  the 
Holy  Land  from  the  power  of  Islam.  Spring- 
ing up  in  a  time  when  the  church  had  become 
extremely  corrupt,  and  conducted  in  a  spirit 
opposed  to  modern  methods  in  missions,  some 
writers  do  not  include  this  aggressive  move- 
ment in  the  record  of  missionary  history.  But 
121 


122  VIA   CHBISTI 

Archbishop  Trench  wisely  says,  "  Let  us  for 
a  moment  bethink  ourselves  of  what,  despite 
this  check,  was  the  tremendous  pressure  of 
Mohammedan  power  upon  Western  Christen- 
dom for  centuries  more,  up  to  the  Reformation 
and  beyond  it,  and  we  shall  own  that  the  Cru- 
sades could  very  ill  have  been  spared."  The 
Crusades  were  not,  as  many  suppose,  a  sudden 
inspiration.  Pope  Sylvester  II  (999-1002)  had 
thought  of  a  crusade  for  the  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  and  the  lands  snatched  from 
Ciiristianity  by  Mohammedanism,  a  hundred 
years  before  the  project  was  carried  out. 

Through  the  influence  of  the  Crusades  a 
flame  of  fanatic  zeal  was  spread  over  all  Chris- 
tendom. King  and  subject,  bishop  and  parish- 
ioner, noble  and  peasant,  age  and  youth,  men 
and  women,  saint  and  sinner,  were  all  fired 
with  this  new  spirit  of  the  age,  sacrificing 
home,  possessions,  and  life  to  engage  in  the 
holy  war.  With  crosses  on  their  breasts,  often 
made  of  rich  mantles  that  had  been  destroyed 
for  the  purpose,  they  set  out,  army  after  army, 
undismayed  by  the  possible  cruel  fate  that  they 
soon  learned  might  reward  their  expenditure 
of  life  and  treasure.  Tasso's  "Jerusalem  De- 
livered "  tells  the  story  of  what  is  often  called 
the  "  Knights'  Crusade,"  and  is  an  idealization 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  123 

of  the  first  expedition  ;  Walter  Scott's  "  Talis- 
man "  portrays  the  romantic  side  of  the  Third 
Crusade. 

The  more  important  leaders  were  Peter  the 
Hermit,  of  the  First  Crusade,  with  Godfre}^  of 
Bouillon,  who,  in  1099,  captured  the  Holy 
City,  after  it  had  been  under  the  power  of 
Islam  for  four  centuries  and  a  half;  Conrad 
III,  emperor  of  Germany,  and  Louis  VII  of 
France,  imperial  leaders  of  the  Second  Crusade, 
whose  only  undertaking  was  the  unsuccessful 
siege  of  Damascus ;  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion, 
with  the  emperors  of  France  and  Germany,  for 
the  Third  Crusade,  who  achieved  little  but  to 
secure  more  favorable  terms  for  the  Christians. 
Several  of  the  following  Crusades  failed  to 
enter  the  Holy  Land  at  all,  sometimes  conduct- 
ing schemes  of  aggrandisement  with  a  behavior 
more  infamous  than  praiseworthy.  The  Holy 
City,  the  object  of  the  early  Crusaders,  was 
finally  retaken  b}^  the  Saracens  in  1187,  never 
since  to  pass  out  of  Mohammedan  rule. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux  (1099-1153). —Three 
centuries  after  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  and 
about  a  quarter  century  after  the  Norman  con- 
quest of  England,  was  born  the  animating  spirit 
of  the  Second  Crusade,  the  great  campaign  evan- 
gelist, Bernard  of  Clairvaux.     Bernard  was  a 


124  VIA    CHBISTI 

child  of  five  when  Peter  the  Hermit  entered  on 
the  First  Crusade. 

The  Second  Crusade  was  the  first  concerted 
movement  both  European  and  Christian,  and 
through  the  learned  and  fiery  monk  extended 
over  a  wider  field  than  had  that  of  Peter  the 
Hermit.  Bernard  had  been  dedicated  to  Chris- 
tian service  by  his  wonderful  mother,  Aleth, 
who  took  her  child,  like  Hannah  of  old,  into 
the  temple  in  babyhood  and  consecrated  him  to 
a  holy  life.  So  faithfully  did  she  impress  this 
thought  upon  his  young  spirit,  that  when  she 
was  early  taken  from  him,  and  his  brothers  be- 
came noble  knights,  he  entered  one  day,  quite 
alone,  a  wayside  chapel,  and,  in  memory  of  his 
mother's  vow,  devoted  himself  to  God's  service. 

Bernard  was  eminently  a  missionary,  and 
through  his  influence,  schools  for  Christian 
teaching  were  founded  in  England,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  Germany,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway, 
and  Italy ;  with  those  he  could  not  visit  he 
carried  on  constant  correspondence.  Although 
it  had  already  taken  a  slight  hold,  he  was  prac- 
tically the  founder  of  the  Cistercian  Order, 
which  began  near  Dijon,  France.  He  especially 
sought  out  centres  known  for  their  wickedness, 
such  as  haunts  of  robbers,  and  set  up  there  his 
holy  house,  turning  the  rough  wilderness  into 


BEENABD   TO  LUTHER  125 

a  beautiful  garden  spot.  He  was  particularly 
interested  in  men  who  had  committed  crimes,  of 
whom  there  were  many  in  these  violent  days ; 
and  more  than  one,  through  his  personal  effort, 
were  not  only  converted,  but  transformed  into 
earnest  workers  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Travelling  often  on  foot,  he  became  a  close 
observer  of  the  world  of  matter,  and  writes  to  a 
friend  :  "  Believe  one  who  has  tried  it ;  thou 
canst  find  more  in  the  woods  than  in  books. 
Trees  and  stones  will  teach  thee  what  thou 
canst  not  learn  from  masters."  Like  all  great 
lovers  of  nature,  he  deplored  ever}^  form  of 
worldliness,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  popes, 
whom  he  v/as  often  called  to  advise.  With 
pope  and  emperor  he  proved  the  Scripture, 
'•  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ? 
He  shall  stand  before  kings." 

The  true  missionary  spirit  rings  in  his  warn- 
ing letter  to  Pope  Eugenius  III,  who  had  been 
in  Palestine  one  of  Bernard's  pupils :  "  Who 
can  assure  me  that  I  shall,  before  I  die,  see 
God's  church  as  it  was  in  the  old  days,  when 
the  apostles  cast  their  nets  not  for  gold  or 
silver,  but  for  souls  ?  How  do  I  wish  that  thou 
mightst  have  the  spirit  of  him  who  said,  '  Thy 
money  perish  with  thee  I '  Oh,  that  Zion's 
foes  might  tremble  and  be  overwhelmed  by  this 


126  VIA   CHBISTI 

word  of  thunder  !  This  your  mother,  the 
church,  demands  and  expects  of  thee.  Thy 
mother's  sons,  great  and  small,  are  longing, 
sighing  for  this,  that  every  plant  that  our 
Heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted  be  by  thee 
rooted  up." 

When  the  existence  of  the  Christian  kingdom 
in  the  East  was  threatened  by  the  fall  of  Edessa, 
that  beloved  Christian  stronghold,  the  Oxford 
of  the  Orient,  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  it 
fired  the  spirit  of  the  holy  Bernard,  who  travelled 
through  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  the  Nether- 
lands, preaching  a  crusade  with  an  eloquence 
that  enlisted  the  cooperation  of  a  French  king 
and  a  German  emperor.  In  1147,  largely  as 
the  result  of  Bernard's  exciting  appeals,  three 
hundred  thousand  were  on  the  march  to  Jeru- 
salem, while  it  was  said  that  as  many  more 
began  a  better  pilgrimage  to  a  holier  city. 
Before  pronouncing  the  Second  Crusade  a  fail- 
ure, one  should  stop  and  count  the  Christian 
hosts  that  were  added  to  Heaven's  army  as 
the  result  of  the  bold  preaching  of  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux. 

In  later  years  Bernard's  missionary  interests 
were  engaged  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews, 
who  were  then,  as  in  all  subsequent  time,  sub- 
jects of  persecution.    He  pleaded  always,  "  There 


BEBNABB   TO  LUTHER  127 

is  a  promise  of  the  general  conversion  of  the 
Jews." 

Results  of  the  Crusades.  —  Undoubtedly  the 
invasion  of  Islam  was  arrested  and  the  fall  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire  delayed  for  more  than 
two  centuries,  as  the  results  of  the  Crusades 
abroad.  Many  who  went  to  the  Orient  were 
obliged  to  remain  there  for  lack  of  means  to 
return,  and  a  better  acquaintance  was  formed 
between  the  people  of  the  West  and  the  East, 
with  the  result  of  more  liberal  ideas  and  the 
breaking  up  of  a  spirit  of  aristocracy  in  the 
church,  especially  hostile  to  missionary  life. 
A  larger  spirit  toward  humanity  gave  better 
conditions  for  promoting  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
abroad. 

At  home  the  nobles  had  impoverished  them- 
selves in  preparations  for  the  Crusades,  mort- 
gaging their  property  to  rich  citizens,  on  whom, 
in  consequence,  they  became  more  or  less  de- 
pendent, and  the  growth  of  the  towns  and  the 
elevation  of  the  common  people  soon  followed, 
to  the  great  advantage  of  the  church.  Thank- 
offerings  for  a  safe  return  from  the  wars  ex- 
pressed themselves  on  the  part  of  the  nobility 
in  the  building  or  restoration  of  local  churches. 
One  only  has  to  remark  the  effigies  of  knights  in 
the  older  churches,  sitting  cross-legged  in  many 


128  VIA   CHBISTI 

a  niche,  to  realize  this  form  of  beneficence. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century 
the  church  had  become  extremely  corrupt,  inso- 
much that  it  was  a  common  expression  with 
reference  to  a  wicked  act,  "  I  would  turn  priest 
before  I  would  do  such  a  thing."  With  this 
reaction  from  the  church,  Messiahs  sprang  up 
here  and  there,  followed  by  crowds,  and  among 
other  prevalent  doctrines,  which  had  generous 
following,  was  that  the  body  was  of  Satan  and 
the  spirit  was  of  God  ;  hence,  any  ill-treatment 
that  could  be  given  to  the  body  became  a  per- 
sonal conquest  of  the  devil.  The  liberalizing 
of  the  human  mind  through  travel,  commerce, 
and  the  bringing  back  of  new  arts  and  inven- 
tions by  such  Crusaders  as  returned,  aided  gen- 
erously in  rectifying  and  clarifying  the  vision 
of  the  church. 

No  insignificant  element  in  this  reform  was 
the  rise  of  woman  in  the  church,  which  has  a 
fresh  progression  from  the  twelfth  century. 
In  the  world,  the  knights  made  her  the  object 
of  their  gallant  achievements,  as  is  illustrated 
by  Tennyson's  "Idylls  of  the  King";  in  the 
church,  she  left  the  position  of  an  inferior  to 
become  the  pattern  of  all  virtue. 

Frmicis  of  Assisi  (1182-1230).  —  Another 
crusading    monk,    v^^ho    not    only    preached    a 


BERNARD    TO  LUTHER  129 

crusade,  but  personally  engaged  in  it,  was  the 
brave  Francis  of  Assisi,  who  has  been  called 
the  father  of  modern  missions.  He  was  a  mer- 
chant's son,  leading  a  thoughtless  life  of  pleas- 
ure, when  an  arrest  of  thought  came  to  him 
and  he  immediately  left  his  gay  comrades  and 
consecrated  himself  to  the  church.  He  subse- 
quently became  the  founder  of  the  order  of  Grey 
Friars,  working  among  the  poor,  and  endearing 
himself  every  v/here,  the  more  because,  to  be  poor 
like  them,  he  had  renounced  a  fine  inheritance 
and  lived,  as  did  his  order,  on  charity.  During 
the  Fifth  Crusade  (1216-1220),  Francis  started 
a  mission  in  two  bands,  one  to  Morocco  and  one 
to  Syria,  accompanying  the  latter  himself.  As 
the  centre  of  the  Crusade  was  Egypt,  he  left 
his  companions  in  Syria  and  proceeded  to 
Egypt,  going  boldly  into  the  Saracen  army,  a 
friar  of  Orders  Grey,  and  straight  to  the  head- 
quarters of  Sultan  Meledin,  saying,  "  I  am  not 
sent  of  man,  but  of  God,  to  show  thee  the  way 
of  salvation."  Brother  Francis's  spirit  of  love 
so  won  the  heart  of  the  Sultan  that  he  allowed 
him  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Moslems,  and 
begged  him  to  entreat  God  to  reveal  in  some 
way  the  best  religion. 

Francis  died  near  Assisi  in  1226,  to  be  can- 
onized by  Pope  Gregory  in  1280. 


130  VIA   CHBISTI 

Raymond  Lull  (1236-1315).  — It  is  refresh- 
ing, at  the  close  of  the  militant  missions  of  the 
Crusading  church,  to  find  a  missionary  whose 
idea  of  the  Christian  conquest  is  closely  allied 
to  that  of  the  apostles,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
the  modern  missionary,  on  the  other.  Ray- 
mond Lull,  of  Palma,  Majorca,  was  of  noble 
birth,  and  had  been  nurtured  in  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  for  his  Spanish  father  had  been  engaged 
in  one  of  the  Crusades.  Like  Paul,  he  received 
a  vision  of  Christ,  and,  like  him,  was  not  dis- 
obedient unto  it.  With  this  hereditary  crusad- 
ing spirit,  he  bethought  himself  of  a  crusade  of 
faith  and  love,  by  which  Islam  should  be  shown 
the  greater  loveliness  of  the  Christian  religion, 
when  set  sharply  in  contrast  with  Moham- 
medanism. He  was  eminently  possessed  of  the 
sound  idea  that  without  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  language  no  real  approach  to  a  people  could 
be  made,  and  he  used  his  ample  wealth  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  in  which  should  be 
taught  the  tongue  which  the  missionary  in- 
tended to  use  in  the  field.  In  order  to  learn 
Arabic,  he  purchased  an  Arab  slave  and  kept 
him  continually  at  his  side.  His  well-trained 
mind  suggested  new  methods  for  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen  world,  and  it  was  his  despair 
that  he  could  not  get  support  from  the  church 


BERN  ABB   TO  LUTHEE  131 

and  state,  whom  he  petitioned  to  found  early 
missionary  training-schools.  He  had  Coleridge's 
thought  that  Christian  faith  might  be  attained 
through  reason,  but  he  was  far  too  many  cen- 
turies in  advance  of  his  time.  Dr.  Smith  ssijs 
that  with  some  slight  response  from  his  church 
or  his  age,  Raymond  Lull  would  have  antici- 
pated William  Carey  by  exactly  seven  centuries. 
It  is  to  Raymond  Lull  that  we  owe  it  that  the 
first  chairs  of  Oriental  languages  in  Christian 
universities  were  established  at  Paris,  Oxford, 
and  Salamanca.  He  left  one  work,  "  On  Divine 
Contemplation. " 

So  possessed  was  Lull  of  the  idea  of  a  mission 
to  the  Moslems,  that  he  went  alone  to  the  hot 
centre  of  Tunis  in  North  Africa.  His  plan  was 
to  call  together  the  Mohammedan  sages  for  a 
conference.  He  was  so  successful  in  his  dis- 
cussions that  the  Koran  teachers  had  him 
thrown  into  prison  lest  he  should  carry  all  men 
with  him,  and  shortly  after  he  was  sent  from 
the  country.  A  second  visit  to  Africa  had  a 
like  result.  He  returned  to  visit  many  cities  of 
Europe,  always  in  the  interest  of  his  mission, 
but  his  spirit  of  love  could  not  keep  him  away 
from  the  people  whom  he  would  convert,  and, 
going  a  third  time  to  the  African  Moham- 
medans, he  became,   in  his   eightieth  year,   at 


132  VIA   CHBISTI 

Bugia,  Arabia,  a  martyr  by  stoning,  like 
Stephen,  the  proto-martyr.  His  great  motto 
was  worthy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  :  "  He  who 
loves  not,  lives  not ;  he  who  lives  by  the  Life 
cannot  die." 

In  England.  —  Misrule  in  England  and  the 
murder  of  Thomas  a  Becket  hastened  the 
humiliation  of  King  John  and  the  grant  of 
the  Magna  Charta  (1215).  From  that  date 
begins  a  wider  ecclesiastical,  as  political,  life. 
The  foremost  missionary  in  spirit,  who  never 
went  on  a  mission  in  body,  is  John  Wiclif 
(1324?-1384).  Few  spirits  ever  travelled 
farther  into  the  coming  centuries,  and  none 
more  surely  hastened  the  day  of  the  great 
Reformation.  A  graduate  of  Oxford,  a  doctor 
of  theology,  Wiclif  became  one  of  the  earliest 
antagonists  of  Rome.  His  patriotic  and  con- 
stitutional views  were  naturally  displeasing  to 
a  debased  church,  that  refused  to  consider  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  a  guide  for  human  action. 
Like  Bernard,  he  was  often  called,  on  account 
of  his  scholarship  and  statesmanship,  to  stand 
before  kings  ;  but  the  political  reformer  rapidly 
developed  into  the  religious  reformer.  Sorely 
grieved  at  the  departure  from  the  preaching  of 
God's  word,  and  the  attempt  to  amuse  people 
with  stories,  legends,  and  plays  in  the  churclies, 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  133 

he  set  the  example  in  his  own  congregation  at 
Lutterworth  of  simple,  sincere  setting-forth  of 
the  life  of  righteousness  in  Christ  Jesus.  His 
followers  went  out  as  poor  priests,  barefoot  and 
poorly  clad,  from  village  to  village  and  city  to 
city,  pursuing  genuine  missionary  itineraries 
as  they  preached  the  word  of  God.  Chaucer's 
Poure  Persoun,  in  the  "  Canterbury  Tales,"  is 
usually  considered  a  description  of  the  Wiclifite. 
Wiclif  maintained  that  the  Bible  should  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  devoted 
himself  to  its  translation  into  English.  The 
thorough  investigation  of  the  Scriptures  inci- 
dent to  their  translation  brought  him  into  sharp 
antagonism  with  the  doctrines  of  the  school- 
men, and  he  was  continually  brought  before 
the  church  for  various  forms  of  heresy,  espe- 
cially for  his  attitude  toward  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment, while  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  nation  always  saved  him  from  vio- 
lence. A  Wiclif  Bible,  sold  in  London  at  the 
beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  for  twelve 
hundred  guineas,  witnesses  to-day  to  the  philo- 
logical value  of  his  masterpiece. 

\Yhile  administering  the  communion  in  his 
church  in  Lutterworth,  in  1384,  came  a  stroke 
that  was  relieved  by  death  in  a  few  days.  But 
Wiclif  had  preceded  Luther  and  his  ideas  by  a 


134  VIA   CHRISTI 

century.  In  1427,  so  bitter  was  the  feeling  of 
the  church  against  Wiclif,  his  body  was  ex- 
humed, burned,  and  the  ashes  thrown  into  a 
brook  —  an  act  that  only  increased  his  fame  and 
gave  fresh  opportunity  to  the  pen  of  poet  and 
prose  writer.  The  best  known  panegyric  is 
that  of  Thomas  Fuller  :  "  Thus  the  brook  has 
conveyed  his  ashes  into  Avon,  Avon  into 
Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into 
the  main  ocean.  And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wiclif 
are  the  emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is 
dispersed  all  the  world  over." 

In  German^/.  —  The  same  spirit  that  ani- 
mated Wiclif  in  England,  betokening  the  com- 
ing of  a  new  and  holy  day,  was  abroad  in 
Germany,  manifesting  itself  through  Hus  of 
Bohemia  (1373-1414),  who  had  Wiclif's  works 
translated  into  Bohemian,  to  be  summarily 
burned  by  the  archbishop.  Hus  denounced 
the  abuses  of  popery,  and  was  soon  excom- 
municated, to  be  afterward  the  victim  both  of 
a  treacherous  emperor  and  the  unjust  Council 
of  Constance  in  1414.  As  Hus  learned  his  doc- 
trine of  Wiclif,  so  Jerome  of  Prague  (?-1416) 
became  in  turn  the  disciple  of  Hus,  and  began 
to  preach  the  reform  doctrine  with  great  en- 
thusiasm. A  temporary  recantation,  made  after 
much  cruel  suffering,  was  fully  atoned  for  by 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  135 

Jerome,  who  afterward  suffered  martyrdom  for 
accounted  heresy,  with  Christian  heroism,  May 
30,  1416. 

In  Italy. — In  the  founding  of  the  various 
religious  orders,  great  emphasis  was  laid  on  the 
extension  of  the  church  through  this  missionary 
effort,  each  new  order  laying  stress  on  some 
special  gift  or  grace  for  the  widening  of  the 
church.  Thus  we  find  the  Franciscans  full  of 
emotional  fervor;  the  Dominicans,  of  intellec- 
tual power ;  the  Cistercians,  of  self-denying 
zeal.  The  orders  flourished  in  Italy,  with  the 
result  that  from  this  centre  many  mission- 
aries were  journeying  hither  and  thither  during 
the  time  of  the  Crusades  and  the  period  that 
succeeded. 

But  occasionally  a  true  missionary  spirit  may 
be  found  whose  mind  journeys  into  the  far 
centuries  rather  than  the  far  countries,  and  he, 
too,  becomes  a  missionary  to  his  age.  The 
revival  of  learning,  which  was  the  glory  of  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  which 
followed  the  fall  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  in 
1453,  and  brought  crowds  of  scholars  with  their 
Greek  tongue  and  their  Greek  manuscripts  to 
Florence,  was  not  without  its  effect  in  quicken- 
ing the  intellect  of  the  reforming  spirits  in  the 
church.     Head  and  shoulders  above  them  all 


136  VIA    CHRISTI 

was  Savonarola,  the  martyr  to  the  reform  he 
preached. 

Savonarola  (1452-1498).  —  A  church  spend- 
ing its  chief  strength  on  minor  theological 
questions,  rivalries  in  ecclesiastical  office,  and 
contentions  for  the  papal  chair,  had  many  char- 
acteristics of  the  political  machine,  when  Jerome 
Savonarola  of  Ferrara,  educated  in  the  mon- 
astery and  endowed  with  intellectual  gifts  that 
no  monastery  could  suppress,  was  sent  to  Flor- 
ence. The  Medicean  family,  under  Lorenzo, 
the  Magnificent,  was  at  its  height.  George 
Eliot's  story  of  "Romola"  portrays  as  truth- 
fully as  graphically  the  times  to  which  this 
reformer  was  born.  Savonarola  was  possessed 
not  only  of  the  need  of  regeneration  of  the 
church,  but  a  glowing  faith  that  it  could  be 
achieved.  Like  the  apostles  of  old,  he  turned 
the  city  upside  down,  and  when  bidden,  for 
the  sake  of  its  peace,  to  change  his  ways,  he 
brusquely  responded,  "  Tell  Lorenzo  to  change 
his  ways."  Then  he  was  threatened  with  exile, 
but  prophetically  replied,  "  I  shall  remain ; 
Lorenzo  must  flee  away."  Lorenzo,  dying 
shortly  after,  sent  to  the  little  prior  of  St. 
Mark's  Convent  to  help  him  make  his  peace 
with  God.  He  stood  in  Florence,  a  reforming 
prophet,  preaching  self-denial    and   simplicity, 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  137 

till  all  Florence  was  ruled  by  Savonarola. 
Then  came  the  reaction,  and  May  23,  1498,  he 
became  a  martyr  to  his  bold  faith.  Before  his 
execution,  as  he  was  being  stripped  of  his 
priestly  vestments,  the  Bishop  of  Vasona  said, 
in  the  usual  ritual  form,  "  I  separate  thee  from 
the  church  militant  and  the  church  trium- 
phant." Savonarola  answered,  "From  the 
church  militant,  not  the  church  triumphant  — 
that  is  not  in  thy  power."  He  had  tried  to 
join  revolution  and  reformation,  and  became  a 
sacrifice  to  ideas  that  to-day  make  his  little  con- 
vent a  Mecca  of  all  good  Christians. 

In  India.  —  The  transient  visits  of  the  monks 
of  different  orders  to  various  parts  of  the  Orient 
during  the  Middle  Ages  remind  one  of  the 
labors  in  our  own  day  of  the  less  organized  and 
least  effective  missions,  to  be  found  everywhere 
in  the  East.  Among  them  occasionally  might  be 
found  a  man  with  a  talent  for  organization,  like 
Jordanus,  the  Dominican  monk,  who  wrote  from 
India,  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
deploring  the  lack  of  instruction  that  he  found 
among  Indian  Christians,  and  the  eagerness  of 
idolaters  to  listen  to  the  doctrines  of  a  better 
faith.  He  claims  at  that  early  date,  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  before  Luther's  time, 
that  if  only  two  or  three  hundred  missionaries 


138  VIA    CHBISTI 

could  be  sent  at  once,  India  might  be  taken 
for  Christ. 

Another  type  of  the  wandering  missionary  is 
Oderic  of  Pordenone  (1286-1331).  He  was  a 
Franciscan  monk,  who  journeyed  through  India, 
gathering  the  bones  of  martyrs  who  had  fallen 
in  that  country,  making  his  way  up  through 
China,  spending  several  years  in  Pekin  at  a 
time  when  the  church  was  in  favor  with  the 
emperor,  and,  on  his  way  back,  journejdng 
through  the  land  of  Tibet.  He  made  a  sixteen 
years'  itinerary,  and  left  a  record  of  his  journey, 
dictated  in  the  feebleness  of  his  last  years,  which 
has  become  an  authority  for  our  knowledge  of 
China  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century. 

In  China.  —  After  the  Nestorians  had  securely 
planted  their  churches  in  China,  they  began  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  Tatars, 
claiming  two  hundred  thousand  converts  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century.  This 
was  among  the  Kerait  Tatars,  two  or  three 
miles  east  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  The  "r"  in 
the  name,  more  commonly  spelt  ''Tartar,"  is 
said  to  have  crept  into  history  through  a  pun 
of  Louis  XI  of  France  (1215-1270),  who,  after 
hearing  a  recital  of  their  barbarous  deeds, 
exclaimed,  "Well  may  tlie}-  be  called  Tartars, 


BEBNABD   TO  LUTHER  139 

for  their  deeds  are  the  deeds  of  fiends  of  Tar- 
tarus ! "  China  at  this  time  was  known  as 
Cathay,  and  the  surrounding  country,  inhabited 
by  the  Scythian  hordes,  as  Tatary.  The  Mon- 
gols poured  into  the  steppes  of  Russia  about 
1223,  threatening  the  Nestorian  church,  north 
and  south,  with  the  result  that  missionaries 
were  sent  into  Tatary  from  the  Roman  church 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  to  remain  until  they 
were  driven  out  in  the  seventeenth. 

There  is  a  story  of  an  interesting  ecumenical 
conference  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the 
great  Khan  called  together  delegates  of  Bud- 
dhism, Mohammedanism,  and  Christianity ;  the 
Franciscans  and  Nestorians  together  represent- 
ing Christianity.  The  day  after,  the  emperor 
said  to  the  leader  of  the  Nestorians,  "  We  Mon- 
gols believe  that  there  is  one  God,  by  whom  we 
live  and  die,  and  toward  whom  our  hearts  are 
wholly  turned.  As  God  has  given  the  hand 
several  fingers,  so  he  has  prepared  for  man 
various  ways  by  which  they  may  go  to  heaven. 
He  has  given  the  gospel  to  the  Christians,  but 
they  do  not  obey  it ;  he  has  given  soothsayers 
to  the  Mongols,  and  the  Mongols  do  what  their 
soothsayers  command,  and,  therefore,  they  live 
in  peace." 

We  owe  our  first  modern  knowledge  of  China 


140  VIA   CHBISTI 

to  a  follower  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  one  John  of 
Planocarpini  (1245),  who  at  the  advanced  age 
of  sixty-five  made  through  Central  Asia  a  jour- 
ney of  ten  thousand  miles  that  sets  any  modern 
adventures  at  naught. 

The  most  famous  of  the  Mongolian  emperors 
was  Kublai  Khan  (?-1294).  He  founded  the 
dynasty,  and  was  the  only  emperor  who  ruled 
over  all  the  Mongols.  It  is  through  Marco 
Polo,  the  Venetian,  who  resided  at  Kublai's 
court  from  1275  to  1293,  that  we  get  interest- 
ing if  not  scientific  knowledge  of  the  court  at 
the  last  of  the  century.  Kublai  Khan  removed 
the  Mongolian  capital  to  Pekin,  1282  (Cam- 
balu),  and  so  extended  the  sway  of  China  to 
the  west  and  south  as  to  include  the  Malaysian 
peninsula.  .  He  was  a  most  tolerant  ruler,  and 
though  he  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  become  a 
Christian,  he  kept  the  Christian  festival  days. 
He  maintained  that  Moses,  Jesus,  Buddha,  and 
Mohammed  formed  a  great  quadrilateral  of 
prophets  sent  to  the  world  to  revolutionize  it. 
It  was  Kublai  Khan  who,  by  personal  ambassa- 
dors, sent  to  the  Pope  for  a  hundred  learned 
men  to  come  to  China  and  preach  the  Christian 
religion  and  instruct  in  western  knowledge. 
But  what  happened  ?  The  cardinals  were 
quarrelling  over  a  new  candidate  for  the  papal 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  141 

chair,  and  when  finally  Gregory  X  sent  two 
Dominican  monks,  it  was  too  late,  and  the  task 
for  so  small  a  force  too  great.  The  great  op- 
portunity for  the  conversion  of  China  to  Chris- 
tianity in  the  thirteenth  century  was  thus  lost. 

As  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  those  rulers 
who  have  made  a  wider  extension  of  kingdom 
than  can  be  wisely  governed,  after  Kublai 
Khan's  reign  there  were  at  least  five  divisions 
of  the  country  into  each  of  which  Christianity 
in  some  form  was  carried  before  the  fifteenth 
century.  In  1368,  the  Tatar  dynasty  was  over- 
thrown, Christians  persecuted,  and  again  all 
foreigners  driven  out  of  the  country,  and  the 
doors  of  China  were  shut  against  Christianity. 
Yet,  at  this  very  moment,  a  new  way  to  China 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  offering  a 
fresh  gate  of  entrance. 

John  of  Monte  Corvino  (1250  ?-1332).  — 
While  the  Mongol  Empire  was  spreading  itself 
toward  the  west  to  the  alarm  of  Europe,  and 
the  church  was  bestirring  itself,  through  the 
various  ecclesiastical  orders,  to  undertake  mis- 
sions to  China,  Nicholas  III,  the  reigning  Pope, 
sent  five  Franciscans  to  start  a  fresh  mission. 
Of  these,  John  of  Monte  Corvino,  a  thoroughly 
evangelical  Christian  minister,  was  by  far  the 
most  successful,  and  may  justly  be  called  "The 


142  VIA   CHRISTI 

Apostle  to  the  Mongols."  Beginning  his  mis- 
sion at  fifty  years  of  age,  he  gave  more  than  a 
generation  to  its  service.  The  heathen  Mongols 
were  much  more  friendly  than  the  Christian 
Nestorians  to  this  rival  mission  in  Pekin,  and 
amid  plots  and  persecutions  this  doughty  mis- 
sionary mastered  Chinese,  translated  the  Psalms 
and  the  New  Testament  into  Tatar,  bought 
scores  of  boys  to  instruct  in  Latin  and  Greek, 
as  well  as  to  perform  the  offices  of  the  church, 
and  placed  his  churches  and  schools  close  to  the 
imperial  palace  at  Pekin,  receiving  himself  six 
thousand  Chinese  as  pupils  or  members.  Monte 
Corvino's  letters  sent  home  read  like  mission- 
ary letters  of  to-day,  as  he  appeals  for  help  and 
gives  detailed  instruction  for  transportation. 
When,  out  of  seven  missionaries  sent  him,  four 
had  succumbed  to  the  fatigues  and  perils  of 
the  journey  through  the  land  of  the  Goths, 
he  writes  pathetically,  "  Could  reenforcements 
have  been  sent  more  promptly  and  vigorously, 
the  great  emperor  himself  would  have  received 
baptism."  When,  archbishop  of  Pekin,  he  died 
at  a  great  age,  after  thirty-six  years  of  mission 
ministry  at  Pekin,  he  left  helpers  to  pursue  his 
great  undertaking.  A  generation  later,  with 
the  overthrow  of  the  Mongols  in  China,  the 
church  of  thirty  thousand  and  the  schools  on 


BEEN  ABB   TO  LUTHER  143 

which  so  much  time  and  money  had  been  spent 
fell  under  the  persecution  of  the  Christians. 
Modern  literature  in  China  is  still  aided  by 
Monte  Corvino's  "The  State  and  Government 
of  the  Great  Khan  of  Cathay." 

In  Africa.  —  The  pioneer  missionary  of  West 
Africa  is  a  Columbus-like  character,  a  Portu- 
guese prince  known  in  history  as  Henry  the 
Navigator  (1394-1443).  Henry  was  not  only  a 
patron  of  sciences,  but  himself  skilled  in  mathe- 
matics, geography,  and  navigation.  His  obser- 
vatory at  the  extreme  point  of  southwest 
Portugal  Vv^as  his  favorite  home.  Under  his 
direction  the  west  coast  of  Africa  was  explored 
to  Sierra  Leone,  and  Madeira  and  the  Azores 
discovered.  But  eager  as  he  was  to  discover 
new  shores,  he  was  more  eager  to  discover  new 
souls  to  win  to  Christianity.  The  opportunities 
he  laid  open  were  improved  by  the  Jesuits. 

The  Century  before  the  Reformation.  — The  ex- 
haustion that  followed  the  Crusades,  the  schools 
interested  chiefly  in  dialectics,  worldliness  and 
immorality  in  the  church  —  all  conduced  to  make 
the  century  before  the  Reformation  practically 
devoid  of  the  missionary  spirit.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifteenth  century,  all  the  countries 
of  Europe,  except  Lapland,  were  Christian,  at 
least  in  name.     Asia  Minor,  Syria,   Palestine, 


144  VIA    CHRISTI 

and  North  Africa,  that  were  formerly  Christian, 
had  all  come  under  the  power  of  Islam,  with  the 
exception  of  the  scattered  Armenians,  Nestorians, 
and  Copts.  Easier  transition  to  the  Orient  had 
been  made  possible  through  the  Crusades,  and 
maritime  adventurers,  in  an  age  of  maritime 
discoveries,  without  making  it  an  object,  were 
unconsciously  carrying  Christianity  to  various 
parts  of  the  world. 


BEEN  ABB   TO  LUTHER  145 

SELECTIONS   FROM   THE   PERIOD 

Sermon 

"A  young  man,  leaving  his  home,  launched 
forth  into  the  sea  to  fish  ;  and  the  master  of  the 
ship  took  him  out  into  the  high  seas,  where 
there  was  no  harbor  to  be  seen,  so  that  the  youth 
began  loudly  to  bewail  himself.  Oh,  Florence, 
that  youth  who  thus  laments  is  in  this  pulpit. 
I  was  led  from  my  home  to  the  harbor  of  the 
religious  life,  when  I  entered  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  years,  solely  to  obtain  liberty  and  peace  : 
two  things  which  I  loved  above  everything  else. 
But  there  I  beheld  the  waters  of  this  world,  and 
I  began  to  preach,  in  the  hope  of  winning  souls ; 
and,  while  there  I  found  pleasure,  the  Lord 
brought  me  down  into  the  sea,  and  sent  me  forth 
into  the  high  seas,  where  I  am  now,  and  whence 
I  no  longer  behold  the  harbor.  In  all  directions 
there  are  difficulties.  Before  my  eyes  I  see 
tribulations  and  tempests  appearing;  behind 
me  the  harbor  is  lost  and  the  wind  drives  me 
forth  into  the  deep.  On  the  right  hand  are  the 
elect  who  are  asking  for  aid ;  on  the  left,  evil 
spirits  and  evil  men,  who  molest  and  trouble  us  ; 


146  VIA    CHRISTI 

above  I  behold  Eternal  Virtue,  and  hope  urges 
me  on  ;  beneath  is  hell,  which,  as  a  man,  I  must 
fear,  because,  without  the  help  of  God,  I  should 
certainly  fall.  Oh,  Lord,  whither  hast  thou 
led  me  ?  From  my  desire  to  save  souls  for  thee, 
I  am  come  into  a  place  from  which  I  can  no 
longer  return  to  my  rest.  Why  hast  thou 
made  me  '  a  man  of  strife  and  a  man  of  conten- 
tion to  the  whole  earth '  ?  I  was  free,  and  now 
I  am  the  servant  of  all.  I  see  in  all  directions 
war  and  discord  coming  upon  me.  You,  at 
least,  my  friends,  the  chosen  of  God,  for  whom 
I  afflict  myself  day  and  night  —  do  you  have 
pity  upon  me  !  Give  me  flowers,  as  the  canticle 
says,  'for  I  am  sick  of  love.'  The  flowers  that 
I  ask  for  are  good  works,  and  I  desire  nothing 
else  of  you  but  that  you  please  God  and  save 
your  souls."  —  Savonarola  (1452-1498). 


A  Missionary  Farewell 

"  Fare  ye  well  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
pray  for  me,  and  for  those  who  are  engaged,  or 
intend  to  be  engaged,  on  missionary  pilgrim- 
ages ;  for  by  God's  help  such  pilgrimages  are 
very  profitable,  and  bring  in  a  harvest  of  many 
souls.  Care  not  then  to  see  me  again,  unless  it 
be  in  these  regions ;  or  in  that  Paradise  wherein 


BERNABD   TO  LUTHER  147 

is  our  rest  and  comfort  and  refreshment  and 
heritage,  even  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"And  for  that  he  hath  said  that  when  the 
gospel  shall  have  been  preached  throughout 
the  whole  world,  then  shall  the  end  come,  it  is 
for  me  to  preach  among  divers  nations,  to  show 
sinners  their  guilt  and  to  declare  the  way  of 
salvation,  but  it  is  for  God  Almighty  to  pour 
into  their  souls  the  grace  of  conversion."  — 
Pascal  of  Vittoria  (a  Franciscan  mission- 
ary in  Tatary,  1338). 


Prayers 


"To  thee,  O  Lord  God,  I  offer  myself,  my 
wife,  my  children,  and  all  that  I  possess.  May 
it  please  thee,  who  didst  so  humble  thyself  to 
the  death  of  the  cross,  to  condescend  to  accept 
all  that  I  give  and  offer  to  thee,  that  I,  my  wife, 
and  my  children  may  be  thy  lowly  :  ervants. 
...  O  Lord  of  glory,  if  that  blessed  day 
should  ever  be  in  which  I  might  see  thy  holy 
monks  so  influenced  by  zeal  to  glorify  thee,  as 
to  go  into  foreign  lands  in  order  to  testify  of 
thy  holy  ministry,  of  thy  blessed  incarnation 
and  of  thy  bitter  sufferings,  that  would  be  a 
glorious  day,  a  day  in  which  that  glov/  of  devo- 


148  VIA   CHRISTI 

tion  would  return  with  which  the  holy  apostles 
met  death  for  their  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  "  — 
Raymond  Lull  (1236-1315). 

II 

"Grant  me,  I  beseech  thee,  Almighty  and 
Most  Merciful  God,  fervently  to  desire,  wisely 
to  search  out,  and  perfectly  to  fulfil  all  that 
is  well-pleasing  unto  thee.  Order  thou  my 
worldly  condition  to  the  glory  of  thy  name ; 
and,  of  all  that  thou  requirest  me  to  do,  grant 
me  the  knowledge,  the  desire,  and  the  ability, 
that  I  may  so  fulfil  it  as  I  ought ;  and  may  my 
path  to  tliee,  I  pray,  be  safe,  straightforward, 
and  perfect  to  the  end. 

"  Give  me,  O  Lord,  a  steadfast  heart,  which 
no  unworthy  affection  may  drag  downward; 
give  me  an  unconquered  heart,  which  no  tribu- 
lation can  wear  out ;  give  me  an  upright  heart, 
which  no  unworthy  purpose  may  tempt  aside. 

"  Bestow  upon  me  also,  O  Lord  my  God, 
understanding  to  know  thee,  diligence  to  seek 
thee,  wisdom  to  find  thee,  and  a  faithfulness 
that  may  finally  embrace  thee.  Amen."  — 
Thomas  Aquinas  (1225-1274). 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  149 

Hymns 
I 

Lies  IrcB 

Day  of  Wrath !     O  day  of   Dies  Irae !     Dies  ilia 
mourning !  Solvet  sseclum  in  favilla, 

See   fulfilled   the   prophets'    Teste  David  cum  Sibylla, 
warning ! 

Heaven  and  earth  in  ashes 
burning ! 

Oh,  what  fear  man's  bosom   Quantus  tremor  est  futurus, 
rendeth,  Quando  Judex  est  venturus, 

When    from     Heaven    the   Cuncta  striate  discussurus ! 
Judge  descendeth, 

On  whose  sentence  all  de- 
pendeth  ! 

AVondrous  sound  the  trum-  Tuba,  mirum   spargens  so- 

pet  flingeth,  num, 

Through  earth's  sepulchres  Per  sepulcra  regionum, 

it  ringeth,  Coget  omnes  anteThronum. 
All  before   the    Throne    it 

bringeth. 

Death  is  struck  and  Nature   Mors  stupebit  et  Natura, 
quaking,  Quum  resurget  creatura, 

All  creation  is  awaking,  Judicanti  responsura. 

To    its    Judge    an    answer 
making. 

What  shall  I,  frail  man,  be   Quid  sum,  miser,  turn  die- 
pleading,  turns, 
Who  for  me  be  interceding,    Quem  patronum  rogaturus, 


150  VIA   CHRISTI 

When  the  just  are  mercy    Quum  vix  Justus  sit  secu- 
needing?  rus? 

King    of    Majesty    tremen-    Rex  tremendse  Majestatis, 
dous,  Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 

Who  dost  free  salvation  send   Salva  me,  Fons  pietatis ! 
us, 

Fount  of  Pity,  then  befriend 
us! 

Think,  good  Jesu,  my  salva-   Recordare,  Jesu  pie, 
tion  Quod  sum  causa  tuse  vise, 

Caused   thy  wondrous    In-   Ne  me  perdas  ilia  die ! 
carnation. 

Leave   me  not  to   reproba- 
tion 1 

Faint  and  weary  thou  hast   Quaerens  me  sedisti  lassus, 
sought  me,  Redemisti,  crucem  passus ; 

On   the   cross    of    suffering   Tantus  Labor  non  sit  cassus. 
bought  me ; 

Shall  such  Grace  be  vainly 
brought  me? 

Low  I   kneel,   with    heart-   Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
submission  ;  Cor  contritum  quasi  cinis  : 

See,  like   ashes,  my  contri-   Gere  curam  mei  finis, 
tion ; 

Help  me  in  my  last  condi- 
tion. 

Ah,  that  day  of  tears  and   Lacrymosa  dies  ilia, 
mourning  !  Qua  resurget  ex  favilla 

From  the  dust  of  earth  re-   Judicandus  homo  reus; 
turning, 

Man  for  judgment  must  pre- 
pare him ; 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  151 

Spare,  O  God,  in  pity  spare    Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus ! 
him  !  Pie  Jesu  Domine, 

Lord,  all-pitying,  Jesu  Dona  eis  Requiem ! 

blest. 
Grant  him  thine   eter- 
nal Rest ! 

—  Thomas  of  Celano  (about  1230). 
Translated  by  J.  W.  Irons. 

II 

^^Jesu,  Dulcis  Memoria.'^ 

Jesus,  the  very  thought  of  thee 
With  sweetness  fills  my  breast ; 

And  sweeter  far  thy  face  to  see, 
And  in  thy  presence  rest. 

Nor  voice  can  sing,  nor  heart  can  frame, 

Nor  can  the  memory  find, 
A  sweeter  sound  than  thy  blest  name, 

O  Saviour  of  mankind  ! 

O  Hope  of  every  contrite  heart ! 

O  Joy  of  all  the  meek  ! 
To  those  who  fall  how  kind  thou  art ! 

How  good  to  those  who  seek  ! 

But  what  to  those  who  find  ?     Ah,  this 
Nor  tongue  nor  pen  can  show  : 

The  love  of  Jesus,  —  what  it  is. 
None  but  his  loved  ones  know. 


152  VIA   CHRISTI 

Jesus,  our  only  joy  be  thou, 

As  thou  our  prize  wilt  be  ; 
Jesus,  be  thou  our  glory  now, 

And  through  eternity  ! 

—  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  (1091-1153). 

Ill 

In  Extremis 

When  the  word  goes  forth  for  dying. 
Listen  to  my  lonely  crying; 
In  death's  dreadful  hour  delay  not; 
Jesu,  come,  be  swift  and  stay  not; 

Protect  me,  save  and  set  me  free! 
When  by  thee  my  soul  is  bidden, 
Let  not  then  thy  face  be  hidden! 
Lover,  whom  'tis  life  to  cherish. 
Shine  and  leave  me  not  to  perish! 

Bend  from  thy  cross  and  succor  me! 

—  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  (1091-1153). 

Translated  by  J.  A.  Symonds. 


Great  Words 


"  A  mind  occupied  with  external  desires  will 
not  glow  with  the  fire  of  divine  love;  and  no 
words  will  avail  to  inspire  hearers  to  celestial 
desire,  which  proceed  from  a  cold  heart.     Noth- 


BERNARD   TO  LUTHER  153 

ing  which  does  not  burn  itself  can  kindle  a 
flame  in  anything  else. 

''Christ  is  called  not  only  righteous,  but 
righteousness  itself,  our  justifying  righteous- 
ness. Thou  art  mighty  in  justifying  as  thou 
art  rich  in  pardoning.  Let  the  soul,  penitent 
for  its  sins,  hungering  and  thirsting  after  right- 
eousness, believe  on  him  who  justifies  the  un- 
godly through  faith,  and  it  shall  have  peace 
with  God. 

"  None  is  without  sin.  It  justifies  me,  if  he 
against  whom  I  have  sinned  is  merciful  to  me. 
What  he  has  resolved  not  to  impute  to  me  is 
as  if  it  had  never  existed.  To  be  sinless 
is  God's  righteousness;  his  forgiveness  is 
man's  righteousness. 

"  Nothing  will  be  wanting  to  our  bliss  when 
the  hidden  substance  of  our  faith  is  open  to 
our  understanding. 

"  How  lovely  art  thou,  O  Christ  —  not  alone 
for  thy  miracles,  but  thy  truth,  meekness,  and 
justice.  Happy  is  he  who  closely  observes 
thee  as  thou  walkest,  a  man  among  men,  and 
strives  with  all  his  might  to  be  like  thee. 

"This  love  wants  no  reward;  it  has  it  within 
itself  in  him  who  is  its  object. 

"  God  is  wisdom,  and  wants  not  a  resigning 
of  one's  self  to  happy  feelings,  but  a  love  that 


154  VIA   CHRISTI 

has  wisdom  to  direct  it."  —  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux  (1091-1153). 

"  In  the  primitive  church  there  were  chalices 
of  wood  and  prelates  of  gold;  in  these  days 
the  church  has  golden  chalices  and  wooden 
prelates. 

"  Observe  all  nature  and  thou  wilt  observe 
that  every  creature  desires  its  own  unity; 
every  being  seeks  this,  except  the  people  of 
Florence,  which  wishes  only  for  separation  and 
division."  — Savonarola  (1452-1498). 

"  From  my  youth  up,  whether  on  a  journey 
or  at  home,  on  business  or  at  leisure,  never 
was  my  Bible  out  of  my  sight.  My  soul  was, 
as  it  were,  espoused  to  it.  In  every  sorrow, 
in  every  persecution,  I  ever  betook  me  to  my 
Bible,  which  walked  with  me  as  my  betrothed. 
And  when  I  saw  others  carrying  about  the 
relics  and  bones  of  saints,  I,  for  my  part,  chose 
to  myself  the  Bible,  my  elect,  my  comrade  in 
all  life's  journey."  —  Matthias  of  Janow 
(?-1394.) 


BERN  ABB   TO  LUTHER  155 


THEMES  FOR  STUDY  OR  DISCUSSION 

I.  Effect  of  the  Crusades  on  the  Papal  Power. 

II.  Abelard  and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux. 

m.  The  Waldenses. 

IV.  Catherine  of  Siena. 

V.  John  of  Planocarpini. 

VI.  Arnold  of  Brescia. 

VII.  Jordanus,  Missionary  to  India. 

VIII.  The  German  Mystics. 

IX.  The  Philosophical  Bible  of  Mediaevalism  —  Peter 

Lombard's  "  Sentences." 

X.  A  Remnant  of  Israel  in  China. 

XL  Account  for  the  Intolerance  of  Mediaeval  Missions. 

XII.  Were  the  Results  of  the  Revival  of  Learning  An- 
tagonistic to  Missions? 


BOOKS   OF  REFERENCE 

Barnes's  "Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."     (For 

V,  VII.) 
Beach's  "  Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'Ang."     (For  X.) 
Bryce's  "  Holy  Roman  Empire."     (For  VI,  XII.) 
Fisher's  "History  of  the  Christian  Church."      (For  II, 

III,  VI,  VIII,  XII.) 
Hurst's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."     (For  I,  II, 

HI,  VI,  VIII,  IX.) 
Pattison's  "  Heroes  of  Christian  History."     (For  IV.) 
Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal." 

(For  II,  III.) 
Storrs's    "Bernard  of    Clairvaux,"    Lectures   I   and  II. 

(For  I,  II.) 
Trench's   "Mediaeval   Church    History."      (For   I,    II.) 
Williams's  "  Middle  Kingdom,"  Vol.  H.     (For  V,  X.) 


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CHAPTER   V 

Luther  to  the  Halle  Missionaries 

Erom  the  Reformation  to  the  Foundation  of  Early  European 
Societies  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 

Sixteenth  to  the  Eighteenth  Century 

The  Reformation.  — When  missionary  activity 
ceased,  about  a  century  before  the  Reformation, 
all  the  countries  of  Europe,  except  a  portion  of 
the  Arctic  Regions,  called  themselves  Christians. 
Asia  Minor,  Palestine,  and  North  Africa,  which 
had  become  Christian  under  the  work  of  the 
apostles  and  the  early  Christian  fathers,  were 
now  under  the  thrall  of  Islam,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  scattered  and  often  persecuted 
churches  of  the  Copts,  Armenians,  and  Nesto- 
rians.  The  nearest  to  anything  that  may  be 
called  zeal  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ  might  have 
been  found  in  the  activities  of  the  Christians  of 
Spain,  to  drive  out  Islam,  and  in  the  effort  of 
the  Nestorians  and  Franciscans  in  North  China, 
to  bring  the  Mongolians  into  the  Christian  faith. 

The  Reformation  was  a  great  spiritual  revi- 
val, although  it  held  no  immediate  grace  for 
159 


160  VIA   CHBISTI 

non-Christian  peoples.  Its  primary  cause  was 
discontent  with  bad  government,  corruption  in 
the  church  and  the  masses  in  her  following,  and 
the  constant  papal  interference  in  civil  affairs, 
of  which  a  notable  example  had  been  furnished 
in  the  eleventh  century  by  the  contest  of  Henry 
IV  of  Germany  and  Hildebrand  (Gregory 
VII). 

For  two  centuries  and  a  half  church  contro- 
versies, that  assumed  a  proportion  far  beyond 
their  merit,  had  been  not  only  a  constant  strain 
to  faith,  but  occasioned  the  neglect  of  practical 
religion.  Many  corrupt  practices,  as  unscrip- 
tural  as  vitiating,  were  in  vogue,  among  them 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  through  which  Leo  X 
(1475-1521),  then  in  the  papal  chair,  aimed  to 
replenish  a  depleted  purse. 

It  was  in  1517  that  a  little  monk  named 
Martin  Luther  (1483-1546),  one  of  the  theo- 
logical professors  in  the  University  of  Wit- 
temberg,  led  an  opposition  to  this  nefarious 
traffic  by  publishing  ninety-five  theses,  nailing 
them  to  the  church  door,  to  condemn  the  sale 
of  indulgences,  as  contrary  to  Scripture  teach- 
ing, and  in  the  presence  of  a  great  multitude 
burning  the  bull  of  excommunication,  pro- 
nounced upon  him  in  consequence  by  the 
Pope.     This  was  the  great  conflagration  from 


LUTHER    TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     161 

the  fires  that  had  been  started  by  Wiclif,  Hus, 
and  Jerome.  Reformation  doctrines  spread 
throughout  Germany,  France,  Switzerland, 
England,  Scotland,  Denmark,  and  Scandina- 
via, making  a  wide  rift  in  the  church,  the 
Teutonic  nations  following  the  Reformation 
idea,  the  Latin  races  adhering  to  the  Roman 
church.  When,  at  the  Diet  of  Spires,  in 
1529,  a  decree  was  sent  out  aimed  against  the 
followers  of  the  Reformed  church,  a  wide  pro- 
test ensued,  and  the  result  was  that  the  church 
received  its  name  of  Protestant.  The  spell  of 
papal  autocracy  was  broken,  and  modern  sci- 
ence and  social  progress  were  destined  to  have 
right  of  way. 

The  Reformation  called  loudly  for  a  return 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible 
taught  plainly  the  duty  of  the  evangelization 
of  the  world.  But  the  Protestantism  of  the 
Reformation  was  so  concerned  in  the  existing 
evils  about  it,  that  it  was  long  before  a  de- 
generate and  alienated  church  was  equal  to 
a  task  that,  above  all  things,  demanded  vigor 
and  loyalty.  Hence,  we  have  the  remarkable 
spectacle  for  many  years  of  a  live  Protestant 
church  without  mission  interest,  while  the 
church  which  had  been  left  because  it  lacked 
life  was  carrying  on  extensive  missions  in  the 


162  VIA   CHRISTI 

Orient,  and  a  little  later  in  America.  While 
Luther  says,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  "the  gos- 
pel is  a  material  preaching  that  shall  be  heard 
in  all  the  world,  and  shall  be  freely  proclaimed 
before  all  people,"  neither  in  his  mind  nor  in 
Calvin's,  a  quarter  century  later,  does  there 
seem  to  be  any  sense  of  responsibility  for  a 
direct  mission  to  the  heathen.  Erasmus  (1465- 
1536)  seems  to  have  recognized  the  world- 
wide significance  of  Christ's  last  command, 
when  he  expresses  the  thought  that  the  Lord 
would  not  come  till  missionaries  had  been  sent 
to  both  heathen  and  Mohammedans. 

An  idea  of  the  way  the  early  Lutheran 
church  regarded  missions  may  be  gained  from 
the  utterances  of  Ursinus,  a  Lutheran  super- 
intendent (bishop)  of  Ratisbon,  who  says: 
"With  respect  to  the  heathen  who  are  to  be 
converted,  they  must  not  be  barbarians  who 
have  hardly  aught  of  humanity  but  the  out- 
ward form,  such  as  Greenlanders,  Lapps,  Sa- 
moyedes,  cannibals  ;  they  must  not  be  fierce 
and  tyrannical,  allowing  no  strangers  to  live 
and  associate  with  them,  like  the  remote  Ta- 
tars beyond  the  Caspian  Sea  [the  Japanese  of 
the  present  day] ,  or  whole  nations  in  the  north- 
ern regions  of  America.  In  short,  they  must 
not  be  headstrong  blasphemers,  persecutors,  de- 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES      163 

spisers  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  holy 
things  of  God  are  not  to  be  cast  before  such 
dogs  and  swine  !  "  And  then  he  adds  a  plea 
not  unheard  to-day,  "  Have  we  not  Jews  and 
heathen  among  ourselves  ? "  In  the  great 
sweep  of  the  Reformation  it  was  generally 
supposed  that  the  Scripture  had  been  fulfilled, 
that  the  heathen  in  general  had  had  their  op- 
portunity and  rejected  it,  and  that  Christ 
would  soon  come.  Hence,  we  have  the  first 
age  of  the  Reformation,  a  great  age  of  missions 
in  the  Roman  church,  and  almost  devoid  of 
missionary  interest  in  the  new  Protestant 
church.  One  of  the  causes  of  the  character 
of  the  Reformation  was  unsound  leaders,  who 
carried  Reformation  views  to  the  extreme. 

During  a  period  of  no  significant  missionary 
enterprises  among  these  Protestants,  so  vigor- 
ously engaged  in  the  discussion  of  such  ques- 
tions, so  unhappily  involved  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  we  yet  find  here  and  there  individ- 
uals with  the  missionary  idea.  Among  them 
were  the  Seven  Men  of  Llibeck,  a  company  of 
young  lawyers,  inspired  by  Hugo  Grotius 
(1583-1645),  of  whom  one,  Peter  Heiling,  be- 
came a  missionary  to  Africa,  translating  the 
New  Testament  into  an  Abyssinian  dialect. 

An   Austrian    baron,    Justinian   Ernest   von 


164  VIA   CHBISTI 

Welz,  about  the  time  of  the  Restoration  in  Eng- 
land, was  greatly  stirred  because  the  Lutherans 
showed  no  interest  in  missionary  enterprises, 
and  he  sent  out  many  an  unheeded  remon- 
strance, two  of  which,  at  least,  took  the  form 
of  publications,  putting  to  the  Lutherans  the 
following  questions :  1.  Is  it  right  that  we. 
Evangelical  Christians,  hold  the  gospel  for  our- 
selves alone,  and  do  not  seek  to  spread  it? 
2.  Is  it  right  that  in  all  places  we  have  so 
many  studiosos  theologice^  and  do  not  induce 
them  to  labor  elsewhere  in  the  spiritual  vine- 
yard of  Jesus  Christ?  3.  Is  it  right  that  we. 
Evangelical  Christians,  expend  so  much  on  all 
sorts  of  dress,  delicacies  in  eating  and  drinking, 
etc.,  etc.,  but  have  hitherto  thought  of  no 
means  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  ? 

Von  Welz's  plan  was  to  start  missionary  col- 
leges in  connection  with  each  university,  where 
instruction  should  be  given  in  Oriental  lan- 
guages, geography,  and  church  history,  espe- 
cially Avhere  it  was  concerned  with  the  work  of 
great  missionaries  and  general  missionary  meth- 
ods. He  suggested  that  people  of  rank  and 
influence,  as  princes  and  magistrates,  should  take 
scholarships  in  these  missionary  colleges,  and 
that  young  men  of  parts  be  sought  out  as  mis- 
sionaries.    So  indifferent  was  the  church  to  this 


LUTHER    TO  HALLE  MISSIONABIES      165 

clear-headed  presentation  that  Baron  von  Welz 
met  no  response  to  an  appeal  two  centuries 
ahead  of  his  time ;  and  at  last,  in  despair  at 
rousing  others,  determined  that  it  was  still  left 
to  him  to  give  himself.  Renouncing  his  title 
and  appropriating  a  sum  for  the  carrying  out 
of  his  plans,  he  went  to  Holland,  was  ordained 
a  missionary,  and  went  to  Dutch  Guiana  on  his 
heroic  Lone  Star  mission,  where  he  soon  be- 
came the  first  missionary  martyr  within  the 
Lutheran  church,  finding  through  an  inhos- 
pitable climate  and  bad  conditions  an  early 
grave. 

It  was  left  to  a  scientist,  the  renowned  Von 
Leibnitz  (1646-1716),  at  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury to  introduce  into  the  statutes  of  the  Ber- 
lin Academy  of  Sciences  this  stanch  missionary 
paragraph :  "  Since  also  experience  shows  that 
the  right  faith,  the  Christian  virtues,  and  true 
Christianity,  both  in  Christendom  and  among 
the  remote  and  unconverted  nations,  are,  by 
God's  blessing  on  the  ordinary  means,  pro- 
moted in  no  way  better  than  through  such 
persons  as,  in  addition  to  a  pure  and  peaceful 
conversation,  are  furnished  with  understanding 
and  knowledge,  therefore  we  will  that  our  sci- 
entific society,  under  our  (the  Elector's)  pro- 
tection, shall  occupy  itself  with  the  propagation 


166  VIA   CHRISTI 

of  the  true  faith  and  of  Christian  virtue.  Yet 
it  is  not  forbidden  them  to  admit  and  employ 
persons  of  other  nations  and  religions,  but  in 
all  cases  with  our  cognizance  and  most  gracious 
approval." 

It  was  fully  two  centuries  after  the  Refor- 
mation before  the  foreign  missionary  idea  was 
thoroughly  engrafted,  and  almost  three  before 
the  Protestant  church  can  be  justly  called  a 
missionary  church. 

In  South  America.  —  South  America  has  won 
the  unenviable  name  of  the  "  Neglected  Conti- 
nent" ;  but  in  a  study  of  its  earlier  history,  when 
it  was  known,  in  connection  with  a  large  por- 
tion of  our  country  now  included  in  the  United 
States,  as  Spanish  America,  it  will  be  found 
that,  though  somewhat  desultory,  missionary 
efforts  were  not  infrequent  under  the  leadership 
of  both  Spaniards  and  Portuguese.  Christo- 
pher Columbus  in  his  early  voyages  fancied 
himself  half  engaged  in  missionary  enterprises. 
In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  mission 
was  undertaken  in  Brazil  by  a  company  of 
Portuguese  missionaries,  who  underwent  much 
peril  and  sacrifice,  not  only  from  the  hands  of 
the  heathen,  but  the  heartless  Portuguese  colo- 
nists, who  made  the  natives  their  slaves  and 
treated  them  with  the  utmost  barbarity. 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     167 

The  first  Protestant  mission  patronized  by 
Coligny,  and  sent  out  in  1555-1556,  became  a 
disgraceful  failure  on  account  of  an  unworthy 
leader,  and  successful  Protestant  work  had  to 
wait  many  years  for  another  good  beginning. 
Meantime,  Jesuits  and  Franciscans  continued 
their  self-sacrificing  labors  down  the  entire 
west  coast  of  South  America,  with  the  result 
of  the  reformation  from  cannibalism  and  other 
degrading  forms  of  life  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  natives. 

A  remarkable  early  attempt  at  communism  is 
to  be  credited  to  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  A  mission,  built  on  the  co- 
operative plan,  with  a  common  storehouse  for 
the  products  of  their  toil,  formed,  for  a  few 
years,  a  kind  of  Utopia. 

The  missions  of  the  valley  of  La  Plata  and 
the  Amazon  bore  the  rather  fitting  name  of 
Reductions.  Among  the  famous  names  con- 
nected with  them  are  those  of  Manuel  de  Or- 
tega, whose  travels  in  the  density  of  South 
American  forests  and  across  the  plains  are  like 
those  of  Livingstone  in  Africa,  and  of  Cypriano 
Baraza,  one  of  the  early  martyrs  of  this  mission. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
Reductions  contained  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  Christian  Indians,  of  whom  Southey 


168  VIA   CHRISTI 

writes  :  "  In  every  Meduction  not  only  was 
the  knowledge  of  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic literally  universal,  but  there  were  some 
Indians  who  were  able  to  read  Spanish  and 
Latin  as  well  as  their  own  tongue.  Besides 
carpenters,  masons,  and  blacksmiths,  they  had 
turners,  printers,  carvers,  and  gilders;  they 
cast  bells  and  built  organs." 

In  the  seventeenth  century  there  were  mis- 
sions throughout  the  western  portion  of  South 
America,  under  the  leadership  of  the  various 
Roman  Catholic  orders,  and  through  the  north- 
ern states.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
attention  given  to  ringing  of  bells  and  swing- 
ing of  censers,  there  is  no  question  that  the 
work  of  hundreds  of  heroic,  self-sacrificing 
missionaries,  who  taught  the  wickedness  of 
cannibalism,  of  polygamy,  of  drunkenness,  of 
idleness,  with  instruction  of  the  men  in  the 
tillage  of  the  land  and  of  the  women  in  spin- 
ning and  weaving,  was  a  great  uplift  to  a 
heathen  people.  Hospitals  were  always  placed 
beside  convents  and  schools,  and  in  some  centres 
arts  were  taught,  as  well  as  the  ordinary  studies 
of  reading,  writing,  and  the  church  forms. 

In  North  America.  —  Civil  wars  in  England 
had  been  the  outcome  of  the  high-handed  policy 
pursued  by  the  sovereigns  of  the  last  of  the 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     169 

sixteenth  and  the  first  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
turies. At  the  close  of  the  period  of  the  Com- 
monwealth (1649-1660),  the  Restoration  and 
the  dissolute  court  of  Charles  II  made  England 
most  distasteful  to  the  followers  of  Cromwell, 
and  emigrations  to  America,  which  had  begun 
under  the  earlier  Stuart  dynasty,  were  contin- 
ued with  great  zeal.  Many  of  the  emigrants 
were  fired  by  religious  motives ;  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians,  of  whom 
various  accounts  had  been  brought  back  to 
England,  formed  no  small  part  of  the  interest 
that  was  taken  in  the  new  continent.  The  early 
settlers  of  New  England  considered  themselves 
missionaries.  In  1644  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  instructed  the  County  Court 
to  teach  the  Indians  within  their  borders  the 
knowledge  and  word  of  God.  Although,  as 
Warneck  says,  "Indian  wars  preceded  by  a 
long  time  Indian  missions,"  yet,  counting  time 
by  centuries,  it  is  but  a  short  period  from  the 
early  settlements  to  the  great  work  of  John 
Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  Indians  (1604-1690). 
A  graduate  of  Cambridge  and  minister  of  the 
church  of  Roxbury,  he  became  greatly  stirred 
for  the  religious  condition  of  the  aborigines  of 
Massachusetts,  and,  after  spending  many  years 
in   acquiring   their   tongue,  he   abandoned   all 


170  VIA   CHRISTI 

other  interests  to  travel  among  the  Indians  and 
preach  to  them  the  gospel  of  Christ.  He  was 
their  trusted  friend  and  counsellor,  and  under 
his  preaching  many  became  Christians.  John 
Eliot's  Bible,  in  the  Indian  tongue,  translated 
in  1661-1663,  is  now  one  of  the  rarest  treasures 
a  library  can  possess. 

The  work  of  Eliot  and  his  helpers  created  so 
wide  an  interest  for  the  Indians  of  New  England 
that  on  July  11,  1649,  the  Long  Parliament 
passed  an  act  entitled  A  Corporation  for  the 
Promoting  and  Propagating  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  New  England.  This  society  had  its 
officers  both  in  England  and  New  England,  and 
carried  on  their  work  near  Boston,  in  various 
parts  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  New  York  State. 
In  1662  the  new  charter  added  to  the  field  to  be 
missionized.  Parts  adjacent  in  America.  The 
American  Revolution  temporarily  broke  up  the 
work,  which  was  afterward  transferred  to  the 
colonies  in  British  America. 

Roger  Williams  (1606-1683)  was  so  thor- 
oughly the  Christian  friend  of  the  Indians, 
acquiring  their  language  and  devoting  much 
of  his  time  to  their  improvement,  after  his  in- 
hospitable treatment  in  Massachusetts,  that  he 
may  well  be  counted  among  the  early  mission- 
aries  to   America,   while   his   "  Key   into   the 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES      171 

Language  of  America  "  is  a  distinct  addition 
to  early  missionary  literature.  Forty  years  of 
faithful  service  entitles  Roger  Williams  from 
youth  to  age  to  divide  with  Eliot,  his  contem- 
porary (in  America),  the  title  of  the  Apostle 
to  the  Indians. 

The  work  of  the  Mayhew  family  reminds 
one  of  the  famous  Scudder  family  in  India  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  missionary  motive 
being  carried  from  generation  to  generation  for 
almost  two  centuries.  To  the  Mayhews  must 
be  given  the  honor  of  Christianizing  the  Indians 
of  Martha's  Vineyard  and  Nantucket,  some  ex- 
cellent Scripture  translations,  a  historical  work 
with  regard  to  the  Indians,  and  the  gathering 
of  many  thousand  aborigines  into  the  church  of 
Christ. 

Other  names  worthy  of  study  in  this  period 
on  account  of  their  associations  with  missions 
among  the  Indians  are  Peter  Folger  (1618?- 
1690),  an  ancestor  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
an  early  homespun  poet  of  Nantucket;  Daniel 
Gookin  (1612?-1687),  a  Kentish  man,  the  friend 
of  Eliot,  who  wrote  "  Historical  Collections  of 
the  Indians  of  Massachusetts  "  of  whose  affairs 
he  was  superintendent ;  and  the  founders  of  the 
Maine  Missions  on  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot, 
the  latter  largely  of  French  support  and  origin. 


172  VIA   CHRISTI 

An  important  Jesuit  mission  among  the 
Hurons,  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  a  chapter  of  Indian  tragedy  ;  but 
the  few  Christians  who  remained  among  them 
after  a  general  massacre  and  the  decimation 
made  by  pestilence,  war,  and  famine  were  the 
beginning  of  a  mission  among  the  Iroquois,  of 
whom  Father  Marquette  (?-1675)  was  a  most 
notable  missionary. 

The  American  Great  Lakes  were  the  scene 
for  five  generations  of  the  work  of  the  French 
missions,  beginning  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  the  missions  were  not  only  manned  but 
sometimes  womanned  by  heroic  souls,  eager  to 
serve  humanity,  careless  of  their  lives,  almost 
courting  martyrdom.  Excellent  chapters  on 
the  missions  to  the  North  American  Ind- 
ians may  be  found  in  Parkman's  "  The  Jesuits 
in  North  America,"  and  an  abridged  form 
in  Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years  Before 
Carey." 

There  were  still  other  missions  to  the  Indians 
in  various  parts  of  the  country,  quite  worthy  of 
patient  and  extended  study. 

In  Mexico. — Mexico,  to-day  a  field  of  Protes- 
tant missions,  was  first  thoroughly  missionized 
by  the  Spanish  orders,  the  Franciscans  being 
the   leaders.      Queen   Isabella  in  her  last  will 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES      173 

and  testament  illustrates  a  whole  board  of 
missions  in  perso7ia^  when  speaking  of  the  grant 
by  Pope  Alexander  VI  of  the  islands  and 
continents  beyond  the  ocean,  as  an  endeavor 
"to  induce  and  bring  the  people  thereof,  by 
conversion,  to  the  holy  Catholic  faith,"  and  to 
send  to  these  islands  and  continents  prelates, 
clergymen,  and  gifted  persons  who  fear  God 
and  who  will  instruct  the  residents  in  good 
doctrine  and  customs  ;  then,  with  a  woman's 
heart,  she  entreats  that  they  be  well  treated 
and  receive  no  injury  in  their  persons. 

Mexico  became  a  sufficiently  strong  mission- 
ary centre  to  send  missionaries  in  turn  to  many 
islands  of  the  sea,  among  them  the  Philippines 
and  the  Ladrones.  The  work  of  these  Spanish 
orders  extended  into  New  Mexico,  California, 
Florida,  what  is  now  known  as  Texas,  and,  so 
far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  left  its 
mark,  not  merely  in  picturesque  convents 
visited  by  the  tourist  in  transcontinental  jour- 
neys, but  in  a  people  that  are  alike  the  hope  and 
discouragement  of  American  Protestant  home 
missions.  The  neophytes  were  trained  in  a 
system  of  forms  and  ordinances,  repressed  by 
the  cruel  customs  of  the  Inquisition  and  meth- 
ods so  rigid  that  corporal  punishment  was  in- 
flicted for  failure  to  attend  church,  consequently 


174  VIA   CHRISTI 

vital  Christian  life,  where  it  occasionally  ex- 
isted, soon  died  out. 

In  India. — Missionary  enterprises  were  now 
greatly  checked  in  all  countries  to  be  reached 
by  crossing  the  sea,  for,  while  the  great  high- 
way was  largely  in  the  hands  of  Spanish  and 
Portuguese,  it  was  infested  by  pirates.  Hence 
India  receives  a  scant  supply  of  missions  for 
some  centuries.  The  most  significant  mission- 
ary who  precedes  the  founders  of  modern  mis- 
sions is,  perhaps,  Xavier  (1506-1552),  the  friend 
and  comrade  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  founder  of  the 
*  Jesuit  Order.  It  was  in  1540  that  this  remark- 
able missionary,  of  fine  birth  and  education, 
patronized  by  the  king  of  Portugal,  started  on 
a  mission  to  India.  But  it  was  1542,  after  a 
most  uncomfortable  voyage,  that  he  arrived  at 
Goa,  on  the  west  coast  of  Hindustan.  For  a 
few  months  he  went  ringing  his  bell  through 
the  streets  of  Goa,  preaching  Christ  when  he 
could  find  an  interpreter,  teaching  children 
many  a  form  they  could  not  understand,  when, 
for  purely  commercial  reasons,  he  was  sent  by 
government  to  the  pearl  fisheries  extending 
from  Cape  Comorin  to  Madras.  After  that  we 
find  him  at  Travancore,  where  he  baptized 
thousands  of  natives.  From  here,  his  restless 
missionary    spirit    takes   him   into   the    Malay 


LUTHER    TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES      175 

peninsula,  always  baptizing  more  converts. 
Unfortunately,  he  believed  in  the  saving  grace 
of  outward  baptism,  and  left  his  converts 
often  no  better  in  life  than  when  he  found 
them. 

But  the  zeal  of  his  spirit  is  not  to  be  mistaken, 
and  Portuguese  Christianity  had  a  great  mis- 
sionary in  this  eager  pioneer.  So  successful 
was  Xavier's  work  that,  when  Protestant  mis- 
sions began  under  Carey,  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  already  had  a  following  of  a  million. 

The  methods  of  the  Jesuits  in  India,  as  in 
China,  went  often  too  far  in  attempts  at  adapta- 
tion to  heathen  forms.  Robert  de  Nobili,  early 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  with  his  followers, 
practised  such  concealment  of  his  intention  and 
such  conformity  to  heathenism,  not  only  wear- 
ing the  dress  and  eating  the  food  of  the  natives, 
but  practising  idol  worship,  that  he  brought 
great  scandal  on  the  Jesuit  order,  w^hile  it  took 
a  century  and  a  half  to  uproot  his  false  teach- 
ings. 

In  Japan.  — "I  have  been  informed  by  many 
of  an  island,  Japan,  situated  near  China,  inhab- 
ited by  heathen  alone,  not  by  Mohammedans, 
nor  by  Jews  ;  and  that  it  contains  men  endowed 
with  good  morals,  most  inquisitive  men,  intelli- 
gent, eager  for  both  natural  and  divine  novel- 


176  VIA   CHRISTI 

ties  concerning  God.  I  have  resolved,  not  with- 
out great  pleasure  of  mind,  to  see  that  island 
also." 

Thus  wrote  Francis  Xavier,  the  Jesuit  (1506- 
1552),  from  his  mission  in  India.  It  is  a  pretty 
story  of  Xavier's  entrance  into  Japan,  guided 
by  Hanjiro,  a  converted  Japanese  murderer, 
who  had  fled  to  India,  meeting  Xavier  at  Ma- 
lacca. Xavier,  trudging  barefooted,  carrying 
his  box  containing  everything  necessary  for 
celebrating  the  Holy  Sacrament,  up  and  down 
the  hills  of  Kioto  or  along  the  shore  at  Oita, 
calling  the  nation  that  alternately  gave  him 
welcome  and  rebuff,  "The  delight  of  my  soul," 
is  a  picture  never  to  be  effaced  from  missionary 
annals.  Xavier's  journey  through  Japan  occu- 
pied about  two  years  and  a  half  (1549-1552). 
He  suffered  great  embarrassment  for  lack  of 
mastery  of  the  Oriental  languages,  and  often, 
when  working  without  an  interpreter,  suffered 
much  disability.  But  his  zeal  supplied  many  a 
lack,  and  his  early  education,  which  had  been 
among  people  of  Protestant  proclivities,  fur- 
nished him  methods  unlike  those  of  other 
Jesuits. 

He  claimed  to  baptize  many  thousands,  among 
whom  a  second  Paul  and  Barnabas,  taking  their 
very  names,  were  drawn   from    the    Buddhist 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MLS SION ARIES     177 

priesthood,  saying,  "  Together  we  have  dissem- 
inated error;  together  let  us  teach  the  truth." 
Converts  followed  fast  and  followed  faster  for 
half  a  century,  many  missionaries  coming  from 
the  Philippine  Islands.  It  became  very  popular 
to  be  a  missionary  to  Japan,  and  Jesuits,  who 
claimed  it  as  their  field,  and  Franciscans,  who 
rushed  in  from  the  Philippines,  and  Dominicans 
from  various  localities,  hurried  to  Japan,  as 
eager  to  embrace  martyrdom,  seemingly,  as  to 
set  up  their  religion.  Christ  was  proclaimed 
from  house  to  house ;  and,  especially  around 
Nagasaki,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Christians 
were  made.  At  the  close  of  forty  years  a  Jap- 
anese embassy  carried  gifts  to  Pope  Gregory 
XIII. 

Then  followed  the  great  persecution  under 
the  leadership  of  the  emperor  and  the  imperial 
decree  :  "  So  long  as  the  sun  shall  warm  the 
earth,  let  no  Christian  be  so  bold  as  to  come  to 
Japan,  and  let  all  know  that  the  king  of  Spain 
himself,  or  the  Christian's  God,  or  the  great 
God  of  all,  if  he  violates  this  command,  shall 
pay  the  forfeit  with  his  head." 

Persecutions  began  in  Japan  in  1587.  In 
1637  thirty  thousand  Christains  were  said  to 
have  been  buried  in  one  grave. 

In  China.  —  It  was  the  hand  of  science  that 


178  VIA   CIIRISTI 

again  opened  the  door  into  north  China,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Matteo 
Ricci  (1552-1610),  an  Italian  Jesuit,  with  two 
comrades,  had  managed  to  enter  China  in  1579, 
under  color  of  doing  imperial  service.  His 
knowledge  of  mathematics  and  his  ability  to 
draw  beautiful  maps  won  him  favor  at  court, 
and  by  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury he  had  entered  Pekin.  He  decorated  his 
maps  with  Christian  texts  and  symbols,  and 
asked,  as  a  remuneration  for  them,  the  privilege 
of  preaching  Christianity.  To  his  preaching 
he  soon  added  the  publication  of  Christian 
books,  and  when  he  died,  in  1601,  he  had  made 
so  many  converts  that  their  descendants  are 
still  represented  in  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
China. 

Dominican  and  Franciscan  missionaries  from 
France  followed  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  the 
famous  Le  Comte  among  them,  making  them- 
selves so  indispensable,  through  their  scientific 
knowledge,  as  to  result  in  the  issue  of  an  edict 
of  toleration  in  1692.  Difficulties  between  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  and  the  Dominican  and  Francis- 
can Orders  were  constantly  being  adjusted  by 
the  Pope  at  Rome,  while  they  seriously  inter- 
fered with  any  direct  missionary  results  on  the 
field,    though    Le    Comte    reports    about    one 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     179 

hundred  churches,  radiating  from  the  centres, 
Pekin,  Nankin,  and  Macao. 

The  shrewdness  of  the  Jesuit  during  the 
Tatar  invasion  often  saved  his  life.  The  story 
of  Father  Martini  (1614-1661)  shows  alike  the 
present  as  the  ancient  character  of  the  order. 

"  As  soon  as  he  learnt  that  the  Tatars  were 
about  to  enter  the  town,  he  put  upon  the  door 
of  his  house  an  inscription  in  these  words: 
'  Here  resides  a  doctor  of  the  divine  law,  come 
from  the  Great  West.'  In  the  vestibule  he 
placed  a  number  of  tables  covered  with  books, 
telescopes,  burning-glasses,  and  similar  articles, 
which  excite  great  admiration  and  respect  in 
those  countries.  In  the  middle  of  it  all  he 
erected  an  altar,  and  placed  upon  it  an  image  of 
the  Saviour.  This  spectacle  was  attended  with 
all  the  effect  that  he  anticipated." 

A  second  scientific  man  made  his  own  way  by 
pointing  to  the  stars.  He  was  one  Adam  Schall 
of  Cologne,  Germany,  who  became  the  royal 
astronomer  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
served  through  the  reigns  of  three  Chinese  em- 
perors, with  such  influence  that  the  mother,  wife, 
and  son  of  one  emperor  were  baptized  in 
the  Christian  faith.  Perira,  a  general  in  the 
Tatar  army  in  1672,  reports  three  hundred 
thousand  Christians  as  the  work  of  the  Domini- 


180  VIA   CHBISTI 

can  and  Franciscan  missionaries.  The  character 
of  their  teaching  was  often  questionable,  with 
crosses  hid  in  flowers  that  they  carried  to 
heathen  temples,  with  knees  bent  before  ances- 
tral tablets  while  they  secretly  worshipped  the 
Lord  Christ.  Their  doctrine  of  masses  for 
the  dead  was  singularly  like  ancestral  wor- 
ship. They  drew  the  line  at  burning  paper 
money  and  pouring  out  wine  in  libations.  Yet 
what  more  could  be  expected  of  missionaries 
who  expected  to  save  souls  through  infant  bap- 
tism ?  Thousands  of  infants  were  thus  baptized 
surreptitiously  and  undoubtedly,  counted  in  the 
three  hundred  thousand.  Xavier  was  on  his 
way  to  China  when,  overtaken  by  illness,  he  died 
on  the  island  of  San  Chan,  December  22,  1552. 
The  Greek  church  was  established  in  Pekin  in 
1685.  In  1689  a  college  was  established  in 
Pekin  for  the  education  of  Greek  priests. 

In  Africa.  — "  North  Africa  is  a  story  of 
great  achievements  and  great  reversions  ;  West 
Africa  of  splendid  but  foiled  intentions  and 
endeavors  ;  South  Africa,  a  story  of  anti-mis- 
sions." 

The  Dutch  began  their  settlements  in  Africa 
in  1652.  The  Dutch  Calvinists,  from  whom 
are  descended  the  Boers  of  to-day,  considered 
themselves,  like  the  Israelites  of  old,  sent  into 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     181 

this  goodly  land  to  take  possession  and  exter- 
minate or  bring  into  captivity  the  former  pos- 
sessors. Their  methods  scarcely  commended 
their  message. 

In  Lapland,  —  The  first  evangelical  mission- 
ary to  Lapland  was  the  pioneer  of  the  second 
Protestant  movement  in  the  line  of  missions. 
King  Gustavus  Wasa,  of  Sweden  (1496-1559), 
anxious  to  include  the  Laps  in  the  conquests  of 
the  Reformation,  was  the  royal  patron,  and 
began  a  work  of  which  Thompson  says,  "  Like 
their  fruit  trees,  it  was  stunted  and  bore  little 
fruit." 

The  Islands  of  the  Sea.  —  At  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century  a  small  company  of 
Franciscans,  with  lay  helpers,  undertook  the 
Christianization  of  the  Canary  Islands,  off  the 
northwest  coast  of  Africa,  with  great  success, 
to  be  followed  a  few  years  later  by  the  endeav- 
ors of  that  early  scientist,  Henry  the  Naviga- 
tor, who  did  similar  service  for  the  Azores  and 
Madeiras,  a  work  not  so  often  mentioned  as  his 
agency  in  making  highways  on  the  sea. 

Missionar}^  history  in  Ceylon  should  be 
written  in  three  chapters  :  the  first,  when  the 
island  was  under  the  control  of  the  Portu- 
guese ;  the  second,  when  under  the  Dutch ; 
the  last,  with  the  present  English  rule.    Xavier, 


182  VIA   CHRISTI 

in  his  extraordinary  travels,  visited  Ceylon  and 
baptized  several  hundred  converts,  who  were 
subjects  of  cruel  persecution.  When  the  Por- 
tuguese came  into  possession  of  Jaffna  in  1548, 
they  began  in  a  more  heroic  than  praiseworthy 
manner  to  Christianize  the  island,  making  bap- 
tism a  condition  of  preferment,  and  a  part  in 
processions  and  scenic  performances  a  consid- 
erable element  of  Christian  life.  When  the 
Portuguese  were  succeeded  by  the  Dutch  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  all  Catholic  rites  were 
forbidden  on  penalty  of  death,  and  the  people 
not  urged,  but  commanded,  to  become  Protes- 
tants. A  system  of  teaching  ensued,  in  which 
the  requisites  for  baptism  were  ability  to  teach 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
a  morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  grace  for 
meals.  No  account  was  taken  of  the  spiritual 
condition  of  the  convert. 

Among  the  Portuguese  possessions  taken  by 
the  Dutch  in  1602  were  the  Malaccas,  Formosa, 
Java,  and  Sumatra,  where  an  equally  disastrous 
missionary  policy  was  pursued,  no  adequate 
preparation  being  made  on  the  part  of  the 
convert,  who  was  mechanically  baptized  in  the 
Christian  faith.  But,  in  1624,  Ave  find  working 
in  Batavia  a  Dutch  missionary  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Ley  den,  one  Justus  Heurnius.     His 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     183 

methods  were  distinctly  displeasing  to  the  East 
India  Company,  for  they  were  of  a  genuine 
missionary  character,  and  he  was  soon  compelled 
to  work  independently.  His  knowledge  of 
medicine  did  not  prevent  his  being  poisoned 
by  the  jealous  Mohammedans,  and  his  health 
obliged  him  to  return  to  Holland,  where  he 
remained  all  his  life  a  missionary  through  his 
translations  into  Malay  of  Christian  books.  His 
work,  of  the  Moravian  type,  antedates  that  of 
the  Moravians  in  the  island  by  a  hundred  years. 

Bartholomew  de  Las  Casas  (1474-1566),  a 
missionary  of  so  worthy  eminence  that  he  has 
been  called  for  four  centuries  the  Apostle  of 
the  West  Indies,  was  graduated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Salamanca,  whence  he  was  sent  to  be 
the  first  priest  ordained  in  America.  After  a 
few  years  in  the  Dominican  Order,  his  con- 
science brought  him  in  contact  with  the  slavery 
question  in  Hispaniola.  He  devoted  himself  to 
the  Christlike  task  of  carrying  the  gospel  to 
the  West  Indian  natives,  and  inducing  their 
masters  to  alleviate  their  situation.  His  self- 
effacing  life  has  a  beautiful  record  in  Arthur 
Helps's  "Life  of  Las  Casas." 

The  Organization  of  Missionary  Societies.  — 
In  1644  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Long 
Parliament  in  London  for  the  spread  of   the 


184  VIA   CHRISTI 

gospel  in  America  and  the  West  Indies,  which 
resulted  in  the  reading,  in  all  churches  of  the 
land,  of  a  parliamentary  plea  for  missions, 
accompanied  by  missionary  collections.  Thus, 
in  1648,  began  the  first  Protestant  missionary 
society,  called  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  New  England,  the  forerunner 
of  the  English  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  familiarly  known 
as  the  S.  P.  G.,  founded  in  1701,  and  celebrat- 
ing its  two  hundredth  anniversary  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  twentieth  century.  But  previous  to 
this,  in  1558,  the  year  of  the  Spanish  Armada, 
interest  had  been  awakened  in  the  same  subject 
and  money  collected  for  the  Christianization  of 
the  Indians.  The  famous  name  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  with  a  donation  of  £100,  is  recorded 
among  the  subscribers. 

In  1698  was  the  foundation  of  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge, 
which  has  now  become  the  great  publication 
society  of  the  Church  of  England.  In  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  initiated 
the  organization  of  the  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  which 
began  its  work  in  April,  1702,  and  sent  its 
first  missionaries,  George  Keith  and  Patrick 
Gordon,  to  Boston. 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     185 

It  took  the  Protestant  church,  after  its  first 
famt  effort,  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  to 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  make  a 
beginning  in  the  organization  of  missions  ;  all 
that  was  achieved  of  moment  was  through  in- 
dividuals, who,  studying  the  Scriptures,  were 
able  to  "see  life  steadily  and  see  it  whole"; 
they  thus  found  that  no  human  being  was  ex- 
cluded in  the  command  of  Mark  xv.  16. 


186  VIA   CHBISTI 

SELECTIONS   FROM   THE   PERIOD 
A  Homily  of  Xavier  (1506-1552) 

"  Would  to  God  that  these  men  who  labor  so 
much  in  gaining  knowledge  would  give  as  much 
thought  to  the  account  they  must  one  day  give  to 
God  of  the  use  they  have  made  of  their  learning 
and  of  the  talents  intrusted  to  them  !  I  am  sure 
that  many  of  them  would  be  moved  by  such 
considerations,  would  exercise  themselves  in  fit- 
ting meditations  on  divine  truths,  as  to  hear 
what  God  might  say  to  them,  and  then,  renounc- 
ing their  ambitions  and  desires  and  all  the  things 
of  the  world,  they  would  form  themselves  wholly 
according  to  God's  desire  and  choice  for  them. 
They  would  exclaim  from  the  bottom  of  their 
hearts,  '  Lord,  here  am  I ;  send  me  whitherso- 
ever it  shall  please  thee,  even  to  India ! ' 
Good  God,  how  much  happier  and  safer  they 
would  be !  With  what  far  greater  confidence 
in  God's  mercy  would  they  meet  their  last  hour, 
the  supreme  trial  of  that  terrible  judgment 
which  no  man  can  escape  !  They  would  then 
be  able  joyfully  to  use  the  words  of  the  faithful 
servant  in  the  gospel,  'Lord,  thou  gavest  me 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     187 

five  talents ;  beside  them  I  have  gained  another 
five  ! '  They  labor  night  and  day  in  acquiring 
knowledge,  and  they  are  very  diligent  indeed 
in  understanding  the  subjects  which  they  study  ; 
but  if  they  would  spend  as  much  time  in  that 
which  is  the  fruit  of  all  solid  learning,  and  be 
as  diligent  in  teaching  to  the  ignorant  the  things 
necessary  to  salvation,  they  w^ould  be  far  better 
prepared  to  give  an  account  of  themselves  to 
our  Lord  when  he  shall  say  to  them,  '  Give  an 
account  of  thy  stewardship ! '  .  .  .  They  de- 
ceive themselves  miserably,  for  their  studies  are 
directed  far  more  to  their  own  advantage  than 
to  the  common  good.  They  are  afraid  that  God 
may  not  second  their  ambition,  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  they  will  not  leave  the  whole  matter 
to  his  holy  will.  I  declare  to  God  that  I  had 
almost  made  up  my  mind,  since  I  could  not 
return  to  Europe  myself,  to  write  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Paris  ...  to  show  them  how  many 
thousands  of  infidels  might  be  made  Christians 
without  trouble,  if  we  had  only  men  here  who 
would  seek  not  their  own  advantage,  but  the 
things  of  Jesus  Christ.  And,  therefore,  dearest 
brothers,  '  pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that 
he  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest.' " 


188  VIA   CHBISTI 

Prayers 


"  O  thou,  who  art  the  true  Sun  of  the  world, 
evermore  rising,  and  never  going  down ;  who, 
by  thy  most  wholesome  and  appearing  sight, 
dost  nourish  and  make  joyful  all  things,  as  well 
that  are  in  heaven  as  also  that  are  on  earth ;  we 
beseech  thee  mercifully  and  favorably  to  shine 
into  our  hearts,  that  the  night  and  darkness  of 
sin,  and  the  mists  of  error  on  every  side,  being 
driven  away,  thou  brightly  shining  within  our 
hearts,  we  may  all  our  life  long  go  without  any 
stumbling  or  offence,  and  may  walk  as  in  the 
day-time,  being  pure  and  clean  from  the  works 
of  darkness,  and  abounding  in  all  good  works 
which  thou  hast  prepared  for  us  to  walk  in. 
Amen."  — Erasmus  (1467-1536). 

II 

"  O  Lord  my  God,  for  life  and  reason,  nurture, 
preservation,  guidance,  education ;  for  thy 
gifts  of  grace  and  nature,  for  thy  calling,  re- 
calling, manifold  recalling  me  again  and  again. 
For  thy  forbearance,  long-suffering,  and  long 
long-suffering  toward  me,  even  until  now  ;  for 
all  from  whom  I  have  received  any  good  or 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     189 

help  ;  for  the  use  of  thy  present  good  things ;  for 
thy  promise  and  my  hope  of  good  things  to  come. 

"  For  all  these  things,  and  for  all  other,  which 
I  know,  which  I  know  not,  manifest  or  secret, 
remembered  or  forgotten  by  me,  I  praise  thee, 
I  bless  thee,  I  give  thee  thanks  ;  and  I  will 
praise  and  bless,  and  give  thee  thanks,  all  the 
days  of  my  life. 

"What  shall  I  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all 
his  benefits  to  me  ?  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord, 
to  receive  glory,  and  honor,  and  power.  Amen." 
—  Lancelot  Andrewes  (1555-1626). 


Hymns 


A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God 

A  bulwark  never  failing, 
Our  helper  he,  amid  the  flood 

Of  mortal  ills  prevailing. 
For  still  our  ancient  foe 
Doth  seek  to  work  us  woe  ; 
His  craft  and  power  are  great, 
And,  armed  with  cruel  hate. 

On  earth  is  not  his  equal. 

Did  we  in  our  own  strength  confide. 
Our  striving  would  be  losing  ; 


190  VIA   CHRISTI 

Were  not  the  right  man  on  our  side, 
The  man  of  God's  own  choosing. 

Dost  ask  who  that  may  be  ? 

Christ  Jesus,  it  is  he  ; 

Lord  Sabaoth  is  his  name, 

From  age  to  age  the  same, 
And  he  must  win  the  battle. 

And  though  this  world,  with  devils  filled, 

Should  threaten  to  undo  us  ; 
We  will  not  fear,  for  God  hath  willed 

His  truth  to  triumph  through  us. 
The  Prince  of  Darkness  grim  — 
We  tremble  not  for  him ; 
His  rage  we  can  endure. 
For,  lo,  his  doom  is  sure. 

One  little  word  shall  fell  him. 

That  word  above  all  earthly  powers  — 
No  thanks  to  them  —  abideth  ; 

The  Spirit  and  the  gifts  are  ours 
Through  him  who  with  us  sideth. 

Let  goods  and  kindred  go, 

This  mortal  life  also  ; 

The  body  they  may  kill ; 

God's  truth  abideth  still. 
His  kingdom  is  forever. 

—  Martin  Luther  (1483-1546). 
Translated  by  F.  H.  Hedge. 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     191 

n 

Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run  ; 
His  kingdom  spread  from  shore  to  shore. 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more. 

From  north  to  south  the  princes  meet, 
To  pay  their  homage  at  his  feet ; 
While  western  empires  own  their  Lord, 
And  savage  tribes  attend  his  word. 

To  him  shall  endless  prayer  be  made, 
And  endless  praises  crown  his  head  ; 
His  name  like  sweet  perfume  shall  rise 
With  every  morning  sacrifice. 

People  and  realms  of  every  tongue 
Dwell  on  his  love  with  sweetest  song. 
And  infant  voices  shall  proclaim 
Their  early  blessings  on  his  name. 

—  Isaac  Watts  (1674-1748). 


A  Missionary  Method  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century 

"  As  soon  as  I  arrived  in  any  heathen  village 
where  they  had  sent  for  me  to  give  baptism,  I 
gave  orders  for  all — men,  women,  and  children 
—  to  be  collected  in  one  place.     Then,  begin- 


192  VIA   CHRISTI 

ning  with  the  first  elements  of  the  Christian 
faith,  I  taught  them  there  is  one  God  —  I  made 
them  each  make  three  times  the  sign  of  the 
cross  ;  then,  putting  on  a  surplice,  I  began  to 
recite,  in  their  own  language,  the  form  of  Gen- 
eral Confession,  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ave 
Maria,  and  the  Salve  Regina.  Then  I  began 
shortly  to  explain  the  Creed  and  the  Ten 
Commandments.  When  the  people  appeared 
to  me  sufficiently  instructed  to  receive  bap- 
tism, I  ordered  them  all  to  ask  God's  pardon 
publicly  for  the  sins  of  their  past  life,  and  to 
do  this  in  the  presence  of  their  neighbors  still 
hostile  to  the  Christian  religion.  The  heathen 
willingly  hear  about  the  mysteries  and  rules 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  treat  me  with 
the  greatest  respect.  Many,  however,  put 
away  from  them  with  hardness  of  heart  the 
truth  which  they  well  know.  When  I  have 
done  my  instruction,  I  ask,  one  by  one,  all 
those  who  desire  baptism,  if  they  believe  with- 
out hesitation  in  each  of  the  articles  of  the 
faith.  All  immediately,  holding  their  arms  in 
the  form  of ,  the  cross,  declare  with  one  voice 
that  tliey  believe  all  entirely.  Then  at  last  I 
baptize  them  in  due  form,  and  I  give  to  each 
his  name  written  on  a  ticket.     When  all  are 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     193 

baptized  I  order  all  the  temples  of  their  false 
gods  to  be  destroyed  and  all  their  idols  to  be 
broken  into  pieces." 


The  Ideal  of  a  Missionary  for  China 
AT  THE  Beginning  of  the  Seventeenth 
Century. 

"  First,  Persons  are  required,  who  have 
formed  the  strongest  Resolution  to  suffer  all 
Things  for  Christ's  sake  ;  and  to  become  new 
Men,  as  it  were,  not  only  as  they  must  change 
their  Climate,  their  Dress,  and  their  Food ;  but 
still  more  as  they  must  practise  Manners,  the 
very  reverse  of  those  of  our  Countrymen  the 
French.  That  Man  who  has  not  this  Talent, 
or  will  not  endeavor  to  acquire  it,  should  lay 
aside  all  Thoughts  of  coming  to  China.  .  .  . 
Those  also  are  unfit  who  are  not  Masters  of 
their  Temper  ;  for  a  Man  of  a  hasty  Turn 
would  sometimes  make  dreadful  Havock  here. 
A  Chineze  has  not  Abilities  to  comprehend  in  a 
Month  what  a  Frenchman  can  inform  him  of  in 
an  hour.  He  must  bear  patiently  with  that 
Indolence  and  Slowness  of  Apprehension  which 
is  natural  to  them.  The  Difficulty  of  the 
Chineze  Language  and  its  Character  requires 
also   a    Person   who    delights   in   Study.      An 


194  VIA   CHRISTI 

European  can  scarce  conceive  how  difficult  it 
is  for  a  foreigner  to  acquire  the  Chineze  Polite- 
ness. The  ceremonial  of  this  Country  is  sur- 
prisingly fatiguing  to  a  Frenchman,  it  being 
one  Business  to  acquire  the  Theory  of  it,  and 
another  to  put  it  in  Practice.  ...  I  omit  to 
mention  the  Christian  and  Religious  Virtues  he 
ought  to  possess ;  without  these  it  is  impossible 
for  any  Man,  either  here  or  in  any  other  coun- 
try, to  save  his  own  Soul,  or  to  make  any  con- 
siderable progress  in  the  Conversion  of  others." 
-De  Chavagnac  (1624-?) 


Great  Words 


"  Oh,  mighty  fortress,  when  will  these  im- 
penetrable brazen  gates  of  thine  be  broken 
through?"  —  Valignani  (1537-1606)  gazi7ig 
on  the  mountains  of  China. 

"  I  see  no  end  of  it  but  the  turning  upside 
down  of  the  whole  world."  —  Erasmus  (1467- 
1536)  on  the  Reformation.     (Cf.  Acts  xvii.  6.) 

"Men  of  marvellous  capacity  for  devising 
and  making  all  manner  of  things."  —  Said  of 
the  Japanese  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

"I  am  not  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico,  but 
brother  Peter  of  Ghent  is."  —  Mexican  Arch- 
bishop  (sixteenth  century). 


LUTHER   TO  HALLE  MISSIONARIES     195 


THEMES  FOR  STUDY  OR  DISCUSSION 

I.  John  Knox. 
11.   Gustavus  Adolphus. 

III.  Philip  Jacob  Spener. 

IV.  Joseph  Anchieta,  a  medical  missionary. 
V.   Peter  of  Ghent. 

VI.   Philip  Melancthon. 
VII.   Father  Marquette  and  the  French  Missions. 
VIII.   Spanish  Missions  in  California. 
IX.   Missions  to  Canadian  Indians. 

X.   Cranmer  and  Ridley. 
XL   Would  the  Reformation  have  suffered  from  Di- 
vided  Interest  had   it  immediately  engaged 
in  Foreign  Missions  ? 
XII.   The  Effect  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Missions. 


BOOKS  OF   REFERENCE 

Barnes's  "Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."     (For 

VII,  VIII,  IX.) 

Bryce's  "Holy  Roman  Empire."     (For  XI,  XII.) 
Fisher's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."     (For  I,  II, 

ni,  VI,  VII,  X.) 

Hurst's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."     (For  I,  II, 

III,  VI,  X.) 
Parkman's    "Jesuits   in  North    America."      (For  VH, 

VIII,  IX.) 

Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal." 

(For  I,  II,  III,  VI,  X.) 
Smith's  "  Short  History  of  Missions."     (For  I,  III,  VI.) 
Warneck's  "  History  of  Protestant  Missions."     (For  VII, 

IX.) 
White's  "  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries."     (For  XI,  XII.) 


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CHAPTER   VI 
The  Halle   Missionaries  to  Carey  and 

JUDSON 

From  the  Foundation  of  Early  European  Societies  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Beginning  of  Nineteenth 
Century  Missions 

Eighteenth  to  the  Nineteenth  Century 

The  Halle  Missionaries.  —  As  the  great  body 
of  Protestants  increased,  it  was  easy  to  see  that 
the  stress  laid  upon  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  was  leaving  the  matter  of  the  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  spirit  insufficiently  emphasized, 
until  even  the  friends  and  followers  of  the 
Reformation  were  obliged  to  admit  a  moral 
degeneration  in  the  disciples  of  Protestanism. 
It  was  the  natural  result  of  the  early  years  of 
freedom  from  the  bondage  of  church  despotism. 
The  new  church,  like  youth  suddenly  released 
from  parental  oversight,  did  not  know  how  to 
use  her  liberty,  and  only  time  could  give  integ- 
rity of  purpose  and  moral  earnestness.  But 
always  there  were  individual  Christians,  like 
Arndt,  Von  Welz,  and   Leibnitz,  of  the  seven- 

199 


200  VIA   CHRISTI 

teenth  century,  who  held  sound  notions  of  the 
importance  of  high  standards  of  Christian  life, 
until  finally  a  great  impulse  was  created  in  a 
movement  against  formalism,  led  by  Philip 
Spener  (1635-1705)  and  August  Francke 
(1663-1727).  This  is  called  the  Pietistic 
Movement,  and  relates  to  our  theme  because 
from  it  outsprang  the  Danish  Halle  Mission, 
the  first  mission  to  be  the  direct  product  of  the 
reformed  Christianity.  It  began  through  the 
influence  of  Dr.  Liitkens,  the  bosom  friend  of 
Francke,  who,  as  court  chaplain  to  Friedrich 
IV  of  Denmark,  enlisted  the  king's  interest  to 
provide  Christian  education  for  his  own  sub- 
jects in  the  Danish  colonies  in  India.  Thus  it 
finally  came  about  that  a  German  missionary  of 
a  Danish  society,  under  an  English  government, 
was  the  pioneer  translator  of  the  Bible  in  India. 

The  Halle  missionaries,  as  a  whole,  probably 
baptized  as  many  as  forty  thousand  converts, 
but  these  converts  showed  sadly  the  result  of 
being  allowed  to  retain  caste  customs.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  until 
the  time  of  Carey,  Protestant  missions  in  India 
were  represented  by  the  Halle  missionaries  of 
the  Coast  Mission  on  the  Tranquebar  coast. 

In  India.  —  Previous  to  the  Tranquebar  mis- 
sion, it  will  be  seen,  there  had  been  no  organized 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUBSON  201 

effort  against  Hinduism  as  a  religion.  Chris- 
tianity had  been  represented  in  a  variety  of 
ways,  and  rarely  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  it, 
in  its  effect  upon  life,  seem  greatly  superior  to 
the  prevalent  faith.  Yet  some  things  had  been 
achieved.  Many  thousands  had  received  a  new 
idea  of  God  and  his  relation  to  the  human  race. 
A  foothold  had  been  made  in  many  places  for 
Christianity,  and  perhaps  what  was  most  im- 
portant of  all  was  that  the  Christian  church  had 
discovered  that,  if  India  were  ever  to  be  taken 
for  Christ,  it  must  be  by  regular,  systematic,  or- 
ganized effort  that  involved  the  Christian  edu- 
cation of  its  youth  through  schools  and  the 
distribution  of  Christian  literature. 

It  was  in  1706  that  this  evangelical  Danish 
mission  was  begun  in  Tranquebar,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  south  of  Madras,  by  the  disciples 
of  these  Pietistic  leaders,  Spener  and  Francke, 
of  Halle,  Saxony.  AVarmer  and  more  practical 
Christian  life  had  given  these  great  leaders 
Avorld-wide  views  with  regard  to  the  message 
of  Christ,  which,  as  they  expressed  it,  should 
reach  "beyond  Germany,  yea,  in  Europe,  and 
to  all  other  parts  of  the  world."  This  noble 
creative  thought  inspired  the  younger  men,  and 
Halle  became  a  centre  of  missionary  interest. 
An  evidence  of  its  power  and  influence  is  indi- 


202  VIA   CHRISTI 

cated  by  a  popular  hymn,  Bogatzky's  "  Wach 
auf,  du  Geist  der  ersten  Zeugen"  ("  Awake, 
thou  spirit  of  the  first  witnesses  !  "),  as  well 
known  in  Germany  as  "  From  Greenland's 
icy  mountains  "  among  English-speaking  Chris- 
tians. 

The  first  two  missionaries,  Bartholomew 
Ziegenbalg  and  Henry  Pliitschau,  went  out 
from  the  Halle  Orphan  House  and  were  sup- 
ported by  German  Christians,  patronized  by 
Friedrich  IV  of  Denmark.  This  was  the 
same  house  that  in  1742  sent  Miihlenberg  and 
Brunnholz  as  missionaries  to  the  Germans  in 
America.  Ziegenbalg  and  Pliitschau  wisely 
devoted  themselves  to  the  acquisition  of  the 
Tamil,  and  the  former  made  such  proficiency 
that  in  three  years  he  not  only  spoke  the  lan- 
guage, but  was  busy  on  a  translation  of  the 
New  Testament.  Ziegenbalg  suffered  much 
persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  cruel  Danish 
governor,  who  was  hostile  to  the  Tranquebar 
mission,  and  the  hardships  he  endured  shortened 
his  period  of  service  to  about  a  decade  ;  yet  he 
founded  a  mission  not  born  to  die.  The  Danish 
Halle  mission  was  eventually,  for  lack  of  suffi- 
cient financial  support,  handed  over  to  other 
societies.  It  still  lives  under  the  fostering  care 
of  other  evangelical  organizations. 


TO  CABEY  AND  JUDSON  203 

Christian  Frederic  Schwartz  (1726-1798). — 
A  little  later  than  Ziegenbalg,  but  under  the 
same  patron,  Friedrich  IV,  king  of  Denmark, 
Christian  Frederic  Schwartz,  a  Halle  University 
man,  and  a  favorite  pupil  of  the  missionary- 
spirited  Francke,  went  to  India.  His  first  in- 
terest had  been  awakened  by  seeing  the  Bible  in 
strange  Tamil  characters,  being  put  through  the 
press  for  the  mission  at  Tranquebar.  His  early 
Christian  nurture,  his  brief  experience  as  a 
teacher  in  the  Halle  Orphan  House,  his  per- 
sonal friendship  with  Schultz,  the  missionary, 
all  contributed  to  the  awakening  of  the  evangel- 
izing spirit  in  the  young  man,  who  was  destined 
to  be  the  greatest  missionary  ever  sent  out  by 
the  Halle  mission.  He  began  his  work  in  Tran- 
quebar in  July,  1750.  With  the  zeal  of  love 
added  to  extraordinary  linguistic  gifts,  he 
quickly  acquired  the  Tamil,  in  which,  before 
the  close  of  the  first  year  of  his  service,  he  was 
speaking  to  crowds  of  people.  He  literally 
obeyed  the  Lord's  word  to  go  everywhere 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  soon  the  little 
colony  was  not  wide  enough  for  his  parish, 
and  we  find  him  preaching  in  other  provinces, 
till  the  whole  coast,  from  Madura  to  Madras, 
knew  and  blessed  the  labors  of  Schwartz. 

One  of  his  antagonizers,  who  afterward  be- 


204  VIA   CHRISTI 

came  his  staunch  friend,  furnishes  this  delight- 
ful portrait  of  him  :  "  The  very  sight  of  the 
man  made  it  necessary  to  lay  aside  prejudices. 
His  clothing  was  generally  pretty  well  worn 
and  out  of  the  fashion.  His  form  was  above  the 
average  in  height,  well  built,  erect,  and  unas- 
suming in  its  carriage  ;  his  complexion  dark 
but  wholesome,  his  hair  black  and  curly,  his 
look  full  of  strength  and  manliness,  gleaming 
with  sincere  modesty,  straightforwardness,  and 
benevolence.  You  may  conceive  the  impres- 
sion which  even  the  first  sight  of  Schwartz 
would  make  upon  the  minds  of  strangers." 

Schwartz  was  a  natural  scholar,  and  his  use- 
fulness was  greatly  increased  by  the  thorough 
study  he  gave  to  Indian  mythology  and  litera- 
ture. Meantime,  at  odd  moments  he  learned 
Portuguese,  in  order  to  be  useful  to  the  people 
of  this  nation  in  India.  Too  great  for  earthly 
havings,  he  declined  a  large  legacy  left  him  by 
a  military  officer,  in  the  spirit  that  he  had 
given  up  his  patrimony  when  he  went  to  India, 
and  invariably  refused  princely  presents  when- 
ever they  were  personal.  The  simplicity  of  his 
life  and  dress,  in  both  of  which  he  followed  the 
manners  of  the  country,  made  his  personal 
expenses  light  and  his  health  vigorous.  After 
a  little  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  made  his 


TO  CAREY  AND  JUDSON  205 

centre  at  Tanjore,  and  soon,  on  account  of  his 
perfect  integrity,  fluency  in  the  language,  and 
knowledge  of  public  affairs,  became  the  chief 
medium  of  official  communication  between  the 
native  princes  and  the  British  government. 
So  loved  and  trusted  was  he  on  both  sides  that, 
when  the  fiercest  enmity  prevailed  between  a 
native  province  and  the  government.  Father 
Schwartz  was  at  liberty  to  go  in  either  camp 
at  his  will. 

It  is  well  remembered  that  the  leader  of  an 
insurrection,  Hyderali,  a  Mohammedan,  insisted 
on  having  none  but  Schwartz  to  treat  with  in 
making  peace  again  with  the  British,  saying, 
"  Send  me  the  Christian  ;  he  will  not  deceive 
me."  And  the  proud  ambassador  had  to  make 
way  for  the  humble  missionary,  who  was  the 
means  of  rescuing  thousands  of  lives  from  phys- 
ical death  as  he  had  previously  saved  them 
from  spiritual  death.  So  indispensable  he 
became  at  last  to  the  British  government,  that 
he  was  made  a  member  of  the  city  council,  and 
so  trusted  was  he  by  the  native  prince  of  Tan- 
jore that  he  became  the  guardian  of  his  son 
and  heir.  Meantime,  he  was  continually 
preaching,  founding  Christian  schools  and 
building  chapels  in  the  midst  of  his  official 
duties. 


206        ,  VIA   CHRISTI 

"  A  German  oak  in  the  land  of  palm," 
Schwartz  passed,  by  nearly  two  years,  the  time 
allotted  to  the  earthly  span  of  man.  A  few 
months  of  feebleness,  and,  mourned  alike  by 
native  and  foreigner,  in  the  act  of  singing 
his  favorite  hymn,  "  Oh,  sacred  head,  once 
wounded,"  Father  Schwartz  was  no  more. 
In  Tanjore  to-day  one  sees  a  marble  monument 
erected  by  the  prince  of  Tanjore  in  the  midst 
of  the  city,  a  granite  tablet  placed  by  the 
foreigners  in  Schwartz's  chapel,  and  a  second 
monument  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  Madras, 
erected  by  the  East  India  Company  ;  but  not 
one  or  all  of  them  begins  to  express  what  the 
consecrated  pioneer,  Schwartz,  founder  of  the 
first  Protestant  church  in  Tinnevelly,  did  for 
Hindustan. 

The  Evangelical  Revival.  —  Canon  Overton 
rightly  finds  remarkable  features  of  resem- 
blance in  the  movement  among  the  Halle 
Pietists  in  the  first  half,  and  that  among  the 
Methodists  and  Evangelicals  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  "  Both,"  he  says, 
"  aimed  chiefly  at  throwing  some  life  into  the 
dry  bones  of  the  prevailing  orthodoxy."  The 
missionary  societies  that  had  been  started  with 
such  promise  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
received  small  encouragement  during  the  time 


TO   CARET  AND  JUDSON  207 

of  the  Georges.  Political  life  of  a  wholesome 
character  was  paralyzed,  and  this  naturally 
affected  religion.  The  dominant  influence  of 
the  worldly  Sir  Robert  Walpole  tended  to  de- 
stroy all  missionary  interest.  The  unsatisfying 
teaching  of  the  church  was  a  poor  palliative 
for  the  deep-seated  misery  of  the  people.  A 
great  evangelical  revival,  whose  main  spirit  was 
John  Wesley,  graduate  of  Christ  Church,  Ox- 
ford, and  a  Fellow  of  Lincoln,  roused  first  Eng- 
land and  then  the  Christain  world.  One  of 
the  best  modern  authorities  on  this  great  re- 
vival declares  that  Susannah  Wesley,  the 
mother  of  John  and  his  almost  equally  famous 
poet-brother,  Charles,  should  be  considered 
the  originator  of  the  evangelical  movement, 
and  that  William  Law  should  be  counted  the 
most  conspicuous  character  connected  with 
it.  However  that  may  be,  the  outcome  of  the 
effort  of  the  little  company  at  Oxford  toward 
a  higher  religious  life  was  the  beginning  of  the 
new  spiritual  life  of  Christendom.  The  fervor 
of  the  spirit  of  that  remarkable  quartet,  the 
two  Wesleys  (John,  1703-1791,  Charles,  1708- 
1788),  George  Whitefield  (1714-1770),  and 
John  Fletcher  (1729-1755),  brought  upon  them 
the  ridicule  of  the  court  and  the  literati. 
Pope's    "  Dunciad "    satirizes    the    evangelistic 


208  VIA   CHEISTI 

leaders,  especially  their  voices  ;  Horace  Wal- 
pole's  "  Letters  "  travesty  their  manners  ;  the 
novelist,  Smollett,  caricatures  them  in  "  Hum- 
phrey Clinker,"  Richardson  in  "  Pamela,"  Foote 
on  the  stage,  and  Gibbon  in  history.  Canon 
Overton  says  that  John  Wesley  was  so 
thoroughly  a  scholarly  gentleman  that  he  was 
found  a  difficult  subject  for  ridicule,  but  the 
guilelessness  and  enthusiasm  of  Whitefield  were 
the  delight  of  the  wits. 

But  the  results  of  this  renaissance  in  the 
church  were  found  in  the  family,  the  new 
Sunday-schools,  the  churches,  and  the  people  at 
large  ;  in  the  great  check  that  was  given  to 
infidelity  of  every  form  ;  and  especially  in  the 
awakening  on  the  subject  of  the  promotion  of 
foreign  missions,  and  the  foundation  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  Under  the 
latter,  John  Wesley  went  to  the  West  Indies, 
for  a  brief  time,  learning  from  the  Moravians 
how  to  succeed,  rather  than  achieving  great 
things  as  a  missionary. 

The  Moravians.  —  It  was  from  the  Pietistic 
movement  that  the  Moravian  church  received 
its  missionary  call  —  a  call  so  effective  as  to 
constitute  its  members  to-day,  in  proportion 
to  their  numbers,  with  one  missionary  abroad 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUDSON  209 

to  every  fifty-eight  church  members  at  home, 
leaders  in  missionary  enterprises. 

The  sect  that  we  call  Moravian  is  known 
among  themselves  as  the  United  Brethren. 
Such  a  fraternity  had  existed  in  Bohemia  from 
the  time  of  John  Hus  until  1627,  when,  in  the 
desolations  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  it  was 
forcibly  abolished.  In  1722  Christian  David, 
a  zealous  evangelist  and  Lutheran,  gathered  a 
band  of  followers  in  Lusatia  and  formed  a  set- 
tlement, called  Herrnhut,  on  one  of  the  estates 
of  Count  Zinzendorf. 

In  1790,  after  nearly  sixty  years  of  missionary 
effort,  the  Moravians  had  twenty-five  mission 
stations  in  five  countries  each  distant  from  the 
other. 

Count  Zinzendorf  (1700-1760).  —  Count  Zin- 
zendorf owed  much  to  his  notable  grandmother. 
Madam  von  Gersdorf ,  to  whose  care  he  was  early 
committed,  and  who  made  it  her  chie^  end  to 
awaken  and  foster  religious  tendenc  i  in  the 
child.  After  leaving  the  University  of  Witten- 
berg, where,  while  of  a  free,  joyous  nature,  he 
was  chiefly  distinguished  for  his  religious  zeal, 
he  spent  two  years  in  travel,  and  then,  in 
compliance  with  the  wishes  of  his  guardian, 
accepted  the  post  of  Councillor  of  Justice  in 
Dresden.     But  his  heart  was  not  in  it,  and  he 


210  VIA   CHRISTI 

resigned,  after  five  years'  trial,  to  become 
a  Christian  evangelist.  Finding  a  community 
with  similar  aims  already  established  on  his 
own  domain,  he  made  Herrnhut  the  basis  of  his 
operations,  and  in  1727  became  the  spiritual 
superintendent  of  the  colony.  In  order  to 
labor  with  the  best  effect,  he  entered  the  min- 
istry. This  step  gave  great  offence  to  the 
Saxon  nobility,  and  on  some  trifling  charge 
he  was  banished.  In  1737  he  was  ordained 
bishop  of  the  Moravian  church,  and  his  life 
thenceforth  is  a  history  of  administrative  work 
and  missionary  enterprises  in  many  lands.  He 
visited  England,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Prussia,  Switzerland,  the  Danish  West  Indies, 
and  in  1741  came  to  America,  where  his  aim 
was  to  establish  religious  communities.  Zin- 
zendorf's  interest  was  always  for  the  most 
degraded,  as  negro  slaves,  Greenlanders,  Esqui- 
maux, c'^d  Hottentots,  and  he  undertook  a 
mission  the  Indians,  but  his  stay  in  America 
was  cut  siiort  by  what  he  regarded  as  misman- 
agement among  the  Brethren.  Returning,  he 
autocratically  resumed  his  position  as  bishop, 
which  he  had  resigned,  and  reversed  the  action 
taken  in  his  absence.  The  decree  of  banish- 
ment having  been  rescinded,  the  last  years  of 
Zinzendorf's  life  were    spent   near    Herrnhut, 


TO  CARET  AND  JUDSON  211 

where,  an  effective  preacher  and  indefatigable 
writer,  he  toiled  faithfully  to  the  end  (1760) 
in  the  service  of  the  Brotherhood.  The  inscrip- 
tion on  the  monument  that  marks  the  grave  of 
Zinzendorf  at  Hutsberg  is,  "  He  was  ordained 
to  bring  forth  fruit,  and  that  his  fruit  should 
remain." 

In  America.  —  In  the  annual  conference  of 
British  Methodists  at  Leeds,  England,  in  1679, 
two  men  had  been  appointed  to  go  to  the  aid 
of  the  young  Methodist  church  in  America. 
The  rise  of  Methodism,  first  a  revival  move- 
ment, became  shortly  a  missionary  movement, 
and  the  first  fifty  years  in  the  provinces  and 
America  is  simply  a  record  of  missionary  travels 
and  experiences.  Francis  Asbury,  whose  jour- 
neys in  America  cover  270,000  miles,  is  the 
best  exponent  of  this  missionary  campaign. 

Workers  among  the  American  Indians  were 
the  famous  Jonathan  Edwards  (1703-1758) ; 
Eleazer  Wheelock,  founder  of  Dartmouth 
College  (1711-1779);  Samuel  Kirkland,  mis- 
sionary to  the  Oneidas  (1745-1808),  and  David 
Brainerd,  a  famous  missionary  to  the  Stock- 
bridge  Indians  (1718-?).  It  was  the  last-named 
missionary  whose  biography  became  later  the 
inspiration  of  both  Henry  Martyn  and  William 
Carey. 


212  VIA   CHRISTI 

In  England. — In  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  with  the  spirit  of  the  Refor- 
mation chilled  by  rationalism  in  Germany  and 
Holland,  its  fires  smothered  by  the  blood  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1672  and  the 
general  persecutions  of  the  Huguenots,  with 
its  power  shorn  of  half  its  strength  by  discus- 
sions of  Arianism,  Socinianism,  Antinomianism, 
and  Calvinism  in  England,  the  spirit  of  apos- 
tolic missions  in  Western  Europe  gave  faint 
signs  of  life. 

It  was  at  such  a  period,  at  an  association  of 
Baptist  churches  at  Nottingham,  England,  in 
1784,  that  a  solemn  agreement  was  made  to 
pray  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  be  poured  on 
the  ministers  in  the  churches,  that  souls  might 
be  converted  and  saints  edified;  and  then  fol- 
lowed the  exhortation  that  petitions  be  offered 
for  "  the  spread  of  the  gospel  to  the  most  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  habitable  globe,"  with  an 
invitation  to  other  societies  to  unite  in  these 
petitions  for  one  hour  on  the  first  Monday  of 
every  calendar  month. 

Only  two  years  after  the  Nottingham  meet- 
ing, a  meeting  was  held  in  London  by  members 
of  the  Church  of  England  to  discuss  the  possi- 
bilities of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 
Andrew  Fuller,  the  first  secretary  of  the  Bap- 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUDSON  213 

tist  Missionary  Society,  was  meanwhile  preach- 
ing awakening  missionary  sermons  on  the  duty 
of  the  church  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  world, 
preaching  from  the  same  theme  three  Sundays 
in  succession.  Out  of  this  effort  rose  the  great 
missionary  revival,  whose  tangible  result  was 
the  formation  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society 
at  Kettering,  Northamptonshire,  in  1792,  of 
which  William  Carey  became  the  first  Eng- 
lishman to  become  a  foreign  missionary. 

In  India :  William  Carey  (1761-1834).  —  Like 
John  Wesley,  William  Carey  had  been  reared 
as  a  churchman.  He  was  born  at  Paulersbury, 
the  son  of  the  parish  clerk,  and  took  up  the 
occupation  of  a  shoemaker.  But  Carey  was  a 
man  with  a  vocation  and  an  avocation,  and  the 
interest  in  the  latter  soon  outran  the  former,  so 
that  in  1789  the  shoemaker  had  become  a 
preacher.  Endowed  with  native  gifts,  his 
individuality  was  emphasized  by  the  difficulties 
with  which  he  contended  in  acquiring  a  sound 
education.  After  he  had  become  possessed  of 
the  idea  that  Christ  was  the  pivotal  thought  of 
the  world,  the  necessity  of  sending  the  gospel 
to  the  heathen  so  impressed  him  that  in  an  oc- 
casional sermon  or  private  study  of  the  map  of 
the  world  his  meditations  all  resulted  in  one 
conclusion  —  that  it  must  be    done,   and  done 


214  VIA   CHRISTI 

immediately.  The  familiar  missionary  motto, 
*'  Expect  great  tilings  from  God  ;  attempt  great 
things  for  God,"  was  the  subject  of  the  sermon 
that  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  society 
whose  first  collection  was  X13,  and  whose  first 
missionary,  a  light  set  on  a  high  candlestick,  was 
William  Carey.  November  10,  1793,  saw  him 
with  his  heart's  desire  fulfilled,  as  he  landed  in 
Calcutta,  a  country  to  which  he  was  to  give 
forty-one  useful  years,  but  whose  story  belongs 
to  another  century  by  the  founding  of  Carey's 
mission  in  Serampore  in  1800. 

In  Greenland.  —  This  extensive  region, 
northeast  of  North  America,  is  inhabited  hy 
a  peculiar  race,  evidently  allied  to  the  Mon- 
golian family.  They  were  living  by  hunting 
and  fishing  in  a  rather  free  and  communistic 
fashion,  in  mud  huts  in  winter  and  in  skin 
tents  in  summer,  when  it  was  laid  upon  the 
heart  of  one  individual,  who  himself  at  first 
thought  it  so  preposterous  that  it  might  be  a 
temptation  of  the  Evil  One,  to  go  to  their  relief 
and  become  the  apostle  of  Greenland. 

Hans  Egede  (1686-1758). —The  founder  of 
the  Greenland  mission  should  not  be  mentioned 
without  the  name  of  Gertrude  Rask,  his  wife, 
who  won  an  equally  immortal  renown.  Egede 
was  educated  in  Copenhagen  and  settled  over  a 


TO   CABEY  AND  JUDSON  215 

Norwegian  parish,  when  he  heard  the  story  of 
the  early  settlement  and  missionizing  of  Green- 
land by  Icelanders  in  1000,  through  Leif,  the 
Christian  navigator,  and  that,  separated  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  the  people  had  again  be- 
come heathen.  He  supposed  that  these  people 
were  descendants  of  Norwegians  or  Icelanders, 
and  so  doubly  his  brethren.  It  took  ten  years 
for  him  to  win  over  to  his  project  patrons  of 
the  enterprise ;  then,  with  his  beloved  wife  and 
three  others,  in  1721,  he  set  sail  from  Bergen 
with  three  vessels  and  forty-six  persons  to 
make  the  perilous  passage,  but  to  find  at  his 
journey's  end  not  descendants  of  the  old  heroic 
Norsemen  of  the  blood  of  Leif,  the  son  of  Eric, 
but  the  little  Esquimaux. 

It  was  a  most  discouraging  outlook,  but 
Egede  went  bravely  to  work  at  a  language 
for  which  he  had  to  frame  new  words  for  the 
new  and  noble  ideas  which  he  had  brought, 
illustrating,  in  true  kindergarten  fashion,  Bible 
events  and  heroes  by  pictures  drawn  by  his 
clever  young  son,  Paul,  who  became  his  distin- 
guished successor.  His  support,  drawn  from 
a  trading  company  of  Bergen  under  Danish 
government,  was  as  precarious  as  it  was  unpop- 
ular, and  when  Christian  VI  of  Denmark  suc- 
ceeded Friedrich  IV  in  1731,  the  colonization 


216  VIA   CHBISTI 

scheme  was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  recall  of 
the  European  colonists.  But  the  heroic  Egede 
persuaded  a  scant  dozen  to  remain,  and  the 
mission  kept  up  a  slow  growth. 

Meantime,  in  1733,  Count  Zinzendorf  had 
begun  the  Moravian  missions  in  Greenland,  but 
the  two  forms  of  teaching  did  not  harmonize 
well.  When  a  scourge  of  smallpox  decimated 
the  people,  the  saintly  Egede  and  his  wife 
became  veritable  angels  of  life  to  the  dying 
Esquimaux,  who  gave  them  large  reward  as 
hundreds  passed  from  life  assuring  their  bene- 
factors that  to  them  was  due  their  sole  salva- 
tion. In  this  time  of  great  grief  and  despair 
scores  of  the  surviving  were  added  to  the  little 
church.  When  Egede's  son  Paul  had  returned 
from  Copenhagen  to  take  up  his  father's  work, 
Egede  received  government  permission,  after 
thirteen  years  of  martyr-like  service,  to  return 
to  Copenhagen,  whither  he  carried  the  body  of 
his  wife,  one  son  and  two  daughters,  whose 
resting-place,  as  his  own,  has  become  a  shrine 
in  the  Nicolai  Church,  Copenhagen. 

As  he  left  Greenland  he  preached  a  farewell 
sermon  from  the  pathetic  text  found  in  Isaiah 
xlix.  4. 

His  mission  college  that  he  founded  in  Copen- 
hagen, to  instruct  missionaries  to  Greenland  in 


TO   CARET  AND  JUBSON  217 

the  language,  was  scarcely  successful,  and  in  1747 
he  retired,  and  died  in  November,  1758.  The 
text  of  the  memorial  discourse  preached  at  his 
funeral  is  his  brief  and  true  biography:  ''There 
was  a  man  sent  from  God,  whose  name  was 
John.  The  same  came  for  a  witness,  to  bear 
witness  of  the  Light,  that  all  men  through  him 
might  believe."  His  monument  is  the  present 
mission  first  sustained  by  his  son  Paul,  and 
afterward  by  other  descendants;  it  comprises 
twelve  successful  centres,  with  their  ministers 
and  catechists. 

In  Africa.  —  In  answer  to  an  appeal  of  Zie- 
genbalg,  the  Moravian  missionary,  George 
Schmidt  (1710-1786),  a  Bohemian  who  had 
already  endured  imprisonment  for  the  gospel's 
sake,  went,  in  1737,  to  South  Africa,  and  started, 
with  much  opposition  from  the  Boers,  a  school 
among  the  Bushmen.  His  enlightening  and 
illuminating  work  for  the  poor  Hottentots 
greatly  incensed  the  Dutch  government,  who 
did  not  wish  their  slaves  to  be  baptized.  When 
they  found  that  his  converts  were  learning  to 
read  and  to  write,  and  to  lead  intelligent  Chris- 
tian lives,  they  sent  the  missionary  home. 
But  every  day  of  his  life  for  over  forty  years 
he  prayed  for  his  beloved  Bushmen,  and  was 
at  last  found,  like  Livingstone,  dead  upon  his 


218  VIA   CHRISTI 

knees.  But  his  prayers  were  answered;  and 
half  a  century  afterward  the  Moravian  church 
resumed  the  mission,  to  find  some  faithful  con- 
verts still  of  the  pioneer  missionary,  among 
whom  they  planted  a  more  successful  work. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  made  two 
attempts  to  enter  Africa,  the  second  of  which, 
under  Dr.  Vanderkemp  (1747-1811),  was  be- 
gun among  the  Kaffirs  at  Bethelsdorp,  Cape 
Colony,  in  1799.  But  this  story  of  the  African 
mission  belongs  to  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  Barbary  States  the  eighteenth  century 
is  a  period  of  utmost  cruelty,  of  which  the  reign 
of  the  infamous  Muley  Ismail  is  a  notable 
instance. 

In  China.  —  In  1724  the  Emperor  Yung 
Cheng  had  issued  an  edict  forbidding  the  propa- 
gation of  Christianity  in  China.  This  edict  had 
been  called  out  by  the  endless  antagonisms  of 
the  various  religious  orders  with  each  other  and 
with  the  Pope  at  Rome.  Missionaries  were  sent 
out  of  the  country,  but  a  few  remained,  conceal- 
ing themselves  for  the  time,  and  reappearing  as 
soon  as  it  was  safe  to  do  so.  In  1742  Conrad 
Lange  went  from  Herrnhut  as  the  first  Protes- 
tant missionary  to  China,  but  was  unsuccessful 
in  trying  to  gain  entrance. 

In  1775,  against  the  vigorous  protest  of  the 


TO  CAREY  AND  JUBSON  219 

Chinese  for  many  years,  the  opium  trade  was 
introduced  by  Warren  Hastings,  furnishing  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  lasting  and 
disheartening  hindrance  to  the  foundation  of  all 
missions  in  after  years. 

The  beginnings  of  modern  missionary  effort 
in  China  under  Protestant  auspices  belong  to 
the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when 
Robert  Morrison,  in  1807,  began  a  pioneer  work 
in  Canton.  Meantime,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
Nestorians  had  preceded  him  by  more  than  a 
thousand  years,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  orders 
by  two  centuries  and  a  quarter. 

In  Japan.  —  The  unfortunate  management  of 
their  missions  by  the  Jesuits,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  closed  Japan  for  230  years. 

It  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  were 
allowed  to  return  to  Japan,  to  find  still  a 
church  of  a  faithful  ten  thousand  as  the  nucleus 
of  a  more  fortunate  mission,  and  it  was  found 
that  this  live  coal  beneath  the  ashes  had  in  it 
true  life.  The  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles' 
Creed  had  survived  as  six  generations  came  and 
went.  In  Formosa,  a  mission  from  the  Dutch 
church  dates  from  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  Islands  of  the  Sea.  —  In  the  modern 
missionary  movement  the  islands  of  the  South 


220  VIA   CHBISTI 

Seas  soon  became  a  part  of  the  foreign  work. 
Interest  had  been  awakened  first  in  these  beau- 
tiful islands  by  the  stories  of  sea  captains  and 
especially  by  the  adventures  of  Captain  Cook ; 
and  the  first  missionary  sent  by  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  started  in  1796  for  Tahiti,  the 
chief  of  the  Society  Islands,  beginning  a  work 
that  lasted  nearly  a  century,  and  not  resigned 
until  it  could  be  passed  over  to  other  missions. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  was  also  the 
first  to  begin  regularly  organized  work  in  the 
West  Indies.  Moravian  mission  work  was 
begun  in  1732,  in  St.  Thomas,  starting  out 
from  Herrnhut. 

Rev.  Samuel  Marsden,  the  second  clergyman 
who  had  ever  landed  in  Australia,  met  in 
New  South  Wales  a  few  Maoris  from  New 
Zealand,  and  became  bent  upon  the  conversion 
of  this  island.  In  1809,  on  his  representations, 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  sent  out  a  party 
to  go  with  him,  consisting  of  a  schoolmaster,  a 
carpenter,  and  a  shoemaker.  Though  they 
landed  in  a  spot  where  the  crew  of  an  English 
ship  had  just  been  murdered,  they  had  a  friendly 
interpreter  and  were  not  molested.  They  were 
protected  and  patronized,  but  years  passed  with- 
out any  conversions.  The  mission  staff  was  re- 
enforced,  and  in  1825  the  first  conversion  was 


TO  CAREY  AND  JUDSON  221 

made.  After  1830  the  progress  of  Christianity 
was  very  rapid.  In  1838  the  New  Testament 
and  Prayer  Book  were  translated  into  Maori, 
and  in  1841  Bishop  Selwyn,  first  bishop  of  New 
Zealand,  wrote  :  '^  We  see  here  a  whole  nation  of 
pagans  converted  to  the  faith.  A  few  faithful 
men  .  .  .  have  been  the  instruments  of  adding 
another  Christian  people  to  the  family  of  God." 
Other  island  work  of  interest  belongs  to  the 
nineteenth  century. 

The  Organization  of  the  Modern  Missionary 
Societies.  —  At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  there  was  a  distinct  movement  toward 
the  organization  of  foreign  missionary  societies, 
having  its  initiative  in  the  English  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge.,  which  was 
founded  just  before  the  century  opened,  in 
1698.  In  1701  followed  the  English  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts., 
a  venerable  organization  recently  brought  promi- 
nently before  us  through  the  celebration  of  its 
bicentennial.  In  1708  was  founded  the  Scottish 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowl- 
edge; in  1714,  the  Norwegian  Society  for 
Missions;  in  1722,  the  reorganization  of  the 
Moravian  United  Brethren;  in  1786,  the  begin- 
nings of  a  Wesley  an  Methodist  Missionary  So- 
ciety,  which    was    not   firmly   established    till 


222  VIA    CHRISTI 

1816  ;  in  1792,  the  English  Baptist  Missionary 
Society^  whose  organizing  spirit  was  William 
Carey,  the  pioneer  of  English  nineteenth-cen- 
tury missions  ;  in  1795,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  ;  in  1796,  the  Scottish  and  Glasgow  Mis- 
sionary Societies^  afterward  merged  in  new 
organizations  of  the  church  of  Scotland ;  in 
1797,  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society;  in 
1799,  through  a  group  of  clergymen,  under 
the  leadership  of  Wilberforce,  the  anti-slavery 
leader,  was  begun  an  organization  which  in 
1812  became  the  Church  Missionary  Society  for 
Africa  and  the  East.  The  Religious  Tract  So- 
ciety^ so  powerful  an  aid  to  missions,  was  also 
organized  in  1799.  The  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society^  the  peer  of  them  all  in  missionary 
achievement,  which  has  put  the  Scriptures  into 
over  225  tongues  and  dialects,  was  not  founded 
until  1804. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowl- 
edge^ 1698,  now  the  great  publication  society 
of  the  Church  of  England,  was  first  preemi- 
nently a  missionary  society,  with  its  own  lay 
and  clerical  missionaries,  but  has  largely  trans- 
ferred, in  modern  times,  its  missionaries  to  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 

Roman  Missions.  —  Missions  under  the  power 
of  the  Roman  See  had  been  conducted  energeti- 


TO   CARET  AND  JUDSON  223 

cally  during  the  days  of  the  Reformation  and 
for  some  time  after.  But  the  revolutions 
which  shook  all  Europe  and  the  difficulties 
of  the  Roman  church  with  the  Jesuit  Orders 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
were  destructive,  at  home  and  abroad,  to  the 
missionary  Propaganda.  The  church  of  Rome 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Propaganda  at 
Rome  in  1622,  which  forms  a  single  board  of 
missions  in  the  cardinals  of  the  Propaganda, 
has  had  a  great  working  centre  for  all  its  en- 
deavors, a  distinct  advantage  of  system  over 
Protestantism.  Their  training  colleges  are  so 
organized  that  the  mass  may  work  as  one  ;  and 
they  derive,  in  consequence,  all  the  benefits 
that  proceed  from  a  strong,  united  effort. 

The  Outlook.  — Hope  would  have  inspired  the 
closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  could 
it  have  been  foreseen  that  those  were  already 
born  whose  names  would  be  blazoned  high  on 
the  roll  of  missionary  heroes,  men  upon  whom 
early  rested  "  the  spirit  of  understanding,  the 
spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  These  were 
Henry  Martyn  (1781-1812),  the  Cambridge 
scholar  and  early  missionary  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  India  and  Persia ;  Robert  Morrison 
(1782-1833),  the  Presbyterian  youth  sent   by 


224  VIA   CHRISTI 

the  London  Missionary  Society  to  found  mis- 
sions in  China;  Adoniram  Judson  (1788-1849), 
the  first  American  Baptist  missionary  to  Bur- 
mah;  Robert  Moffatt  (1795-1883),  the  Edin- 
boro  Scotchman,  who  at  twenty-one  began 
a  half  century's  work  in  Africa,  and  whose 
equally  notable  daughter,  Mary  Moffatt,  became 
the  wife  of  Livingstone,  the  missionary  ex- 
plorer, and  John  Williams  (1796-1839),  who 
was  to  represent  the  Congregational  Church 
as  the  apostle  of  the  islands  of  the  South  Seas, 
—  names  to-day  of  heroic  memory.  At  the 
opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  youngest 
was  a  four-years-old  child,  the  eldest  in  the  first 
flush  of  manhood. 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUDSON  225 

SELECTIONS    FROM    THE   PERIOD 

From  Sermon  of  Carey 

On  Missionaries 

The  missionaries  must  be  men  of  great  piety, 
prudence,  courage,  and  forbearance ;  of  un- 
doubted ortiiodoxy  in  their  sentiments,  and 
must  enter  with  all  their  hearts  into  the  spirit 
of  their  mission  ;  they  must  be  willing  to  leave 
all  the  comforts  of  life  behind  them,  and  to 
encounter  all  the  hardships  of  a  torrid,  or  a 
frigid  climate,  an  uncomfortable  manner  of 
living,  and  every  other  inconvenience  that  can 
attend  this  undertaking.  Clothing,  a  few 
knives,  powder  and  shot,  fishing-tackle,  and  the 
articles  of  husbandry  above-mentioned  must  be 
provided  for  them  ;  and  when  arrived  at  the 
place  of  their  destination,  their  first  business 
must  be  to  gain  some  acquaintance  with  the 
language  of  the  natives  (for  which  purpose 
two  would  be  better  than  one),  and  by  all  law- 
ful means  to  endeavor  to  cultivate  a  friend- 
ship with  them,  and  as  soon  as  possible  let 
them  know  the  errand  for  which  they  were 
sent.      They  must  endeavor  to  convince  them 


226  VIA   CHRISTI 

that  it  was  their  good  alone  which  induced 
them  to  forsake  their  friends,  and  all  the  com- 
forts of  their  native  country.  They  must  be 
very  careful  not  to  resent  injuries  which  may 
be  offered  them,  nor  to  think  highly  of  them- 
selves, so  as  to  despise  the  poor  heathens,  and 
by  those  means  lay  a  foundation  for  their  re- 
sentment, or  rejection  of  the  Gospel.  They 
must  take  every  opportunity  of  doing  them 
good,  and  laboring  and  travelling,  night  and 
day;  they  must  instruct,  exhort,  and  rebuke, 
with  all  long-suffering  and  anxious  desire  for 
them,  and,  above  all,  must  be  instant  in  prayer 
for  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the 
people  of  their  charge.  Let  but  missionaries 
of  the  above  description  but  engage  in  the 
work,  and  we  shall  see  that  it  is  not  impracti- 
cable. —  William  Cakey  (1761-1834). 

On  Methods 

When  a  trading  company  have  obtained  their 
charter,  they  usually  go  to  its  utmost  limits  ; 
and  their  stocks,  their  ships,  their  officers,  and 
men  are  so  chosen  and  regulated  as  to  be 
likely  to  answer  their  purpose;  but  they  do 
not  stop  here,  for  encouraged  by  the  prospect 
of   success,   they    use    every   effort,    cast   their 


TO  CARET  AND  JUDSON  227 

bread  upon  the  waters,  cultivate  friendship 
with  every  one  from  whose  information  they 
expect  the  least  advantage.  They  cross  the 
widest  and  most  tempestuous  seas,  and  en- 
counter the  most  unfavorable  climates ;  they 
introduce  themselves  into  the  most  barbarous 
nations,  and  sometimes  undergo  the  most  af- 
fecting hardships;  their  minds  continue  in  a 
state  of  anxiety  and  suspense,  and  a  longer  de- 
lay than  usual  in  the  arrival  of  their  vessels  agi- 
tates them  with  a  thousand  changeful  thoughts 
and  foreboding  apprehensions,  which  continue 
till  the  rich  returns  are  safe  arrived  in  port. 
But  why  these  fears  ?  Whence  all  these  dis- 
quietudes and  this  labor?  Is  it  not  because 
their  souls  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  project, 
and  their  happiness  in  a  manner  depends  upon 
its  success  ?  Christians  are  a  body  whose 
truest  interest  lies  in  the  exaltation  of  the 
Messiah's  kingdom.  Their  charter  is  very  ex- 
tensive, their  encouragements  exceeding  great, 
and  the  returns  promised  infinitely  superior  to 
all  the  gains  of  the  most  lucrative  fellowship. 
Let  then  every  one  in  his  station  consider  him- 
self as  bound  to  act  with  all  his  might,  and 
in  every  possible  way  for  God.  —  William 
Carey  (1761-1834). 


228  VIA   CHRISTI 

Homily 

"If  our  European  missionaries  in  China 
would  conduct  themselves  with  less  ostenta- 
tion, and  accommodate  their  manners  to  per- 
sons of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  the  number  of 
converts  would  be  immensely  increased.  Their 
garments  are  made  of  the  richest  materials; 
they  go  nowhere  on  foot,  but  always  in  sedans, 
on  horseback,  or  in  boats,  and  with  numerous 
attendants  following  them.  With  a  few  hon- 
orable exceptions,  all  the  missionaries  live  in 
this  manner,  and  thus,  as  they  never  mix  with 
the  people,  they  make  but  few  converts.  The 
diffusion  of  our  holy  religion  in  these  parts  has 
been  almost  entirely  owing  to  the  catechists 
who  are  in  their  service,  to  other  Christians,  or 
to  the  distribution  of  Christian  books  in  the 
Chinese  language.  Thus  there  is  scarcely  a 
single  missionary  who  can  boast  of  having 
made  a  convert  by  his  own  preaching,  for 
they  merely  baptize  those  who  have  already 
been  converted  by  others. 

"They  cannot  produce  any  satisfactory  re- 
sults in  consequence  of  the  formidable  barrier 
of  the  language,  which,  up  to  my  time,  none 
has  been  able  to  surmount  so  as  to  make  him- 
self understood  by  the  people  at  large."  —  Ripa, 
of  the  Roman  missionaries,  1710. 


TO  CARET  AND  JUDSON  229 

Prayers 


"Dear  Lord,  I  know  that  there  are,  indeed, 
many  positions  and  occupations  which  may  at 
last  be  made  to  redound  to  thy  honor.  But 
I  ask  that  thou  wouldst  direct  my  whole  life, 
from  first  to  last,  to  thy  glory,  to  thy  glory 
only."  —  August  Francke  (1663-1727),  at 
nine  years  of  age. 

II 

"  Oh,  send  thy  light  and  thy  truth,  that  I 
may  live  always  near  to  thee,  my  God.  Oh, 
let  me  feel  thy  love,  that  I  may  be,  as  it  were, 
already  in  Heaven,  that  I  may  do  all  my  work 
as  the  angels  do  theirs  ;  and,  oh,  let  me  be 
ready  for  every  work  !  —  be  ready  to  go  out  or 
go  in,  to  stay  or  depart,  just  as  thou  shalt  ap- 
point. Lord,  let  me  have  no  will  of  my  own, 
or  consider  my  true  happiness  as  depending,  in 
the  smallest  degree,  on  anything  that  can  be- 
fall me  outwardly,  but  as  consisting  altogether 
in  conformity  to  thy  will.  Amen."  —  Henry 
Martyn  (1781-1812). 


230  VIA   CHRISTI 

Hymns 
I 

A  Popular  German  Missionary  Hymn 

Wach  auf,  du  Geist  der  ersten  Zeugen, 
Die  auf  der  Maur  als  treue  Wachter  stehn, 

Die  Tag'  und  Nachte  nimmer  schweigen, 
Und  die  getrost  dem  Feind  entgegen  gehn. 

Ja,  deren  Schall  die  ganze  Welt  durchdringt 

Und  alien  Volker  Scharen  zu  dir  bringt. 

O  dass  dein  Feuer  doch  bald  entbrennte, 
O  mocht  es  doch  in  alle  Lande  gehn ! 

Ach  Herr,  gieb  doch  in  deine  Ernte 

Viel  Knechte,  die  in  treuer  Arbeit  stehn 

O  Herr  der  Ernt,  ach  siehe  doch  darein, 

Die  Ernt  is  gross,  da  wenig  Knechte  sein. 

Dein  Sohn  hat  ja  mit  klaren  Worten 
Uns  diese  Bitt  in  unsern  Mund  gelegt. 

O  siehe,  wie  an  alien  Orten 

Sich  deiner  Kinder  Herz  und  Sinn  bewegt, 

Dich  hierum  herzinbriinstig  anzuflehn  ; 

Drum  hor,  O  Herr,  und  sprich:  Es  soil  geschehn. 
—  Karl  Heinrich  von  Bogatzky  (1690-1774). 

II 

When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross 
On  which  the  Prince  of  glory  died, 


TO  CAREY  AND  JUDSON  231 

My  richest  gain  I  count  but  loss, 

And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride. 

Forbid  it,  Lord,  that  I  should  boast, 
Save  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  my  God  ; 

All  the  vain  things  that  charm  me  most, 
I  sacrifice  them  to  his  blood. 

See,  from  his  head,  his  hands,  his  feet, 
Sorrow  and  love  flow  mingled  down  ! 

Did  e'er  such  love  and  sorrow  meet. 
Or  thorns  compose  so  rich  a  crown  ? 

Were  the  whole  realm  of  nature  mine. 
That  were  a  tribute  far  too  small ; 

Love  so  amazing,  so  divine. 

Demands  my  life,  my  soul,  my  all. 

—  Isaac  Watts  (1674-1748). 

HI 

Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 

Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly, 
While  the  nearer  waters  roll, 

AVhile  the  tempest  still  is  high ! 
Hide  me,  O  my  Saviour,  hide. 

Till  the  storm  of  life  is  past ; 
Safe  into  the^  haven  guide, 

O  receive  my  soul  at  last ! 


232  VIA   CHRISTI 

Other  refuge  have  I  none ; 

Hangs  my  helpless  soul  on  thee : 
Leave,  oh,  leave  me  not  alone. 

Still  support  and  comfort  me ; 
All  my  trust  on  thee  is  stayed, 

All  my  help  from  thee  I  bring : 
Cover  my  defenceless  head 

With  the  shadow  of  thy  wing ! 

Thou,  O  Christ,  art  all  I  want ; 

More  than  all  in  thee  I  find ; 
Raise  the  fallen,  cheer  the  faint. 

Heal  the  sick,  and  lead  the  blind. 
Just  and  holy  is  thy  name, 

I  am  all  unrighteousness  : 
False  and  full  of  sin  1  am. 

Thou  art  full  of  truth  and  grace. 

Plenteous  grace  with  thee  is  found, 

Grace  to  cover  all  my  sin : 
Let  the  healing  streams  abound : 

Make  and  keep  me  pure  within. 
Thou  of  life  the  fountain  art. 

Freely  let  me  take  of  thee  : 
Spring  thou  up  within  my  heart. 

Rise  to  all  eternity. 

—  Charles  Wesley  (1707-1788). 


TO  CABEY  AND  JUBSON  233 


IV 

Let  us  make  a  song 

To  the  King's  son ; 

For  he  shall  be  made  king. 

This  my  little  song  shall  praise  him  : 

'Tis  said  he  is  a  brave  prince, 

Let  us  therefore  rejoice ; 

For  he  shall  be  our  king, 

After  his  father's  death. 

We  rejoice  also,  because 

He  loves  us  as  his  father  does, 

Who  sent  over  clergymen  to  us. 

To  teach  us  the  word  of  God ; 

Lest  we  should  go  to  the  deviL 

yp:  7^  yp:  y^  y^  ^ 

(This  I  wish)  Frederick  Christian  and  my  friend 
Peter,  who  were  the  first  baptized  of  Greenland 
Would  to  God  our  countrymen  were  also. 

—  Frederick  Christian, 
on  the  Birthday  of  Prince  Christian,  1729. 


Poem 

Henry  Martyn  (1781-1812) 

Then  came  another  of  priestly  garb  and  mien, 
A  young  man  still  wanting  the  years  of  Christ, 
But  long  since  with  the  saints.   .   .   . 
A  poet  with  the  contemplative  gaze. 


234  VIA   CHRISTI 

The  listening  ear,  but  quick  of  force  and  eye, 
Who   fought   the    wrong  without,    the   wrong 

within. 
And,  being  a  pure  saint,  like  those  of  old, 
Abased  himself  and  all  the  precious  gifts 
God  gave  him,  flinging  all  before  the  feet 
Of  him  whose  name  he  bore  —  a  fragile  form 
Upon  whose  hectic  cheek  there  burned  a  flush 
That  was  not  health;  who  lived  as  Xavier  lived. 
And  died  like  him  upon  the  burning  sands, 
Untended,  yet  whose  creed  was  far  from  his, 
As  pole  from  pole;  whom  grateful  England  still 
Loves. 

The  awakened  gaze 
Turned  wholly  from  the  earth,  on  things   of 

heaven 
He  dwelt  both  day  and  night.     The  thought  of 

God 
Filled  him  with  infinite  joy  ;  his  craving  soul 
Dwelt  on  him  as  a  feast ;   as  did  the  soul 
Of  rapt  Francesco  in  his  holy  cell 
In  blest  Assisi  ;  and  he  knew  the  pain. 
The  deep  despondence  of  the  saint,  the  doubt. 
The  consciousness  of  dark  offence,  the  joy 
Of  full  assurance  last,  when  heaven  itself 
Stands  open  to  the  ecstacy  of  faith. 
The  relentless  lie 
Of  Islam  ...  he  chose  to  bear,  who  knew 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUDSON  235 

How  swift  the  night  should  fall  on  him,  and 

burned 
To  save  one  soul  alive  while  yet  'twas  day. 
This  filled  his  thoughts,  this  only,  and  for  this 
On  the  pure  altar  of  his  soul  he  heaped 
A  costlier  sacrifice,  this  youth  in  years, 
For  whom  Love  called,  and  loving  hands,  and 

hope 
Of  childish  lives  around  him,  offering  these. 
Like  all  the  rest,  to  God. 

—  Lewis  Morris,  in  "A  Vision  of  Saints." 


Great  Words 


"With  dancing  and  gallant  doings,  with 
fencing,  drinking,  shooting  and  boxing  I  have 
nothing  to  do."  —  Spener  in  college. 

"It  is  incumbent  on  the  whole  church,  and 
she  must  not  be  deficient  either  in  zeal,  or  in 
labor,  or  in  money,  that  the  poor  heathen  and 
unbelievers  may  be  attended  to.  Wliy  will 
the  church  renounce  the  right  which  she  has 
to  all  the  world  ?  If  she  maintains  this  right, 
why  does  she  not  do  all  in  her  power  to  obtain 
actual  possession  ?  We  cannot  say  that  God 
has  refused  such  help  and  grace  to  such  poor 
people.  Why,  then,  should  we  not  strive 
to  make  them  partakers  of  that  which  no  one 


236  VIA   CHEISTI 

will  maintain  to  be  denied  them  by  divine 
compassion  ?  "  —  Philipp  Spener,  leader  of 
the  Pietists  (1635-1705). 

"  I  am  now  at  the  brink  of  eternity,  but  to 
this  moment  I  declare  that  I  do  not  repent  of 
having  spent  forty-three  years  in  the  service 
of  my  Divine  Master.  Who  knows  but  God 
may  remove  some  of  the  great  obstacles  to  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel  ?  Should  a  reforma- 
tion take  place  among  the  Europeans,  it  would 
no  doubt  be  the  greatest  blessing  to  the  coun- 
try."—ias^  words  0/ Schwartz  (1726-1798). 

"  We  boast  some   rich  ones  whom  the  gospel 

sways. 
And  one  who  wears  a  coronet  and  prays." 

—  CowPER  (1731-1800)  of  Lord  Dartmouth. 

"  Moderator,  rax  me  that  Bible  !  "  —  Dr. 
Erskine  (1721-1803),  when  the  duty  of  send- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  heathen  lands  was  questioned^ 
in  an  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland. 

"  I  have  always  set  myself  to  discover  the 
good  there  is  in  each  religion,  for  I  know  that 
in  every  nation  the  Saviour  has  those  who  love 
him."  — Count  Zinzendorf  (1700-1760). 

"  Yonder  stream  of  Ganges  shall  one  day  roll 
through  tracts  cultivated  by  Christian  husband- 
men."—  Henry  Martyn. 


TO   CAREY  AND  JUDSON  237 


THEMES   FOR   STUDY  OR   DISCUSSION 

I.  Henry  Martyn. 

11.  David  Brainerd,  Missionary  to  the  Indians. 

III.  The  Story  of  Christ  in  Art. 

IV.  Forms  of  Christian  Worship,  from  the  "Upper 

Room"  to  the  Cathedral. 
V.   Zeisberger,   Moravian    Missionary    to    American 

Indians. 
VI.   Achievements  of  the  Pioneer  Missionary  Societies. 
VII.   Jonathan  Edwards  as  Missionary. 
VIII.   The  Evangelical  Movement  as  Related  to  Missions. 
IX.   Social  and  Spiritual  Changes  in   Religious  Life 

from  the  First  to  the  Nineteenth  Centuries. 
X.    The  Opium  War  in  China. 
XI.   The  Promise  of  Nineteenth-Century  Missions  at 

the  Close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
Xn.   A  Map   Study  of  the    Geographical  Advance  of 
Christianity  beginning  with  Antioch. 


BOOKS   OF   REFERENCE 

Anderson's  "History  of  Foreign  Missions."    (For  VI,  X.) 
Barnes's  "  Two  Thousand  Years  Before  Carey."    (For  II, 

V,  VII,  XII.) 
Beach's  "  Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'Ang."     (For  X.) 
Bliss's  "  Encyclopedia  of  Missions."    (General  reference.) 
Dennis's  "  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress."    (For 

IX,  XL) 
Farrar's  "  Life  of  Christ  in  Art."     (For  HI.) 
Hurll's  "  Life  of  Our  Lord  in  Art."     (For  III.) 
Hurst's  "History  of   the  Christian  Church."     (For  II, 

IV,  VII,  VIII,  XII.) 


238  VIA   CHRISTI 

Overton's  "  Evangelical  Revival."     (For  VIII.) 

Piper's  "  Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal." 

(For  I,  II,  V,  VII.) 
Smith's  "  Henry  Martyn."     (For  I.) 
Smith's  "  Short  History  of  Christian  Missions."     (For  I, 

II,  V,  VII.) 
Warneck's  "  History  of  Protestant  Missions."     (For  VI, 

XI.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Adamnan's  Vita  S.  Columbse.  J.  T.  Fowler.  Clarendon 
Press,  Oxford,  England. 

Adventures  of  Gustavus  Wasa.     L.  S.  Griffith,  London. 

Alcuin.     Andrew  F.  West.     Seribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

Beginnings  of  Christianity,  The.  G.  P.  Fisher.  Serib- 
ner's Sons,  New  York. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux.  Richard  S.  Storrs.  Hodder  & 
Stoughton,  London. 

Biographical  Dictionary.  J.  Thomas.  J.  B.  Lippincott 
&  Co.,  Philadelphia. 

Cathay  and  the  Way  Thither.  Henry  Yule.  Hakluyt 
Society,  London. 

Celts,  The.  G.  F.  Maclear.  (Conversion  of  the  West 
Series.)     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Charlemagne.  H.  W.  Carness  Davis.  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  New  York. 

Christ-Child  in  Art,  The.  H.  J.  Van  Dyke,  Jr.  Harper 
Bros.,  New  York. 

Christianity  and  Islam.  (Epochs  of  Church  History 
Series.)     A.  D.  F.  Randolph  Co.,  New  York. 

Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  James  S.  Den- 
nis.    Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  New  York. 

Church  and  the  Roman  Empire,  The.  Carr.  (Epochs 
of  Church  History  Series.)  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  Co., 
New  York. 

Church  of  the  Early  Fathers,  The.  A.  Plummer. 
(Epochs  of  Church  History  Series.)  A.  D.  F.  Ran- 
dolph Co.,  New  York. 

Church  History  of  the  Middle  Ages.     Charles  Harwick. 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York. 
239 


240  VIA    CHRIST! 

Church  in  the  Roman  Emph-e,  The.  W.  M.  Ramsay. 
Hodder  &  Stoughton,  London. 

Clement  of  Alexandria.  (Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library.) 
Alexander  Roberts  and  James  Donaldson.  T.  &  T. 
Clark,  Edinburgh. 

Concise  History  of  Missions.  E.  M.  Bliss.  F.  H.  Revell 
Co.,  New  York. 

Conflict  of  Christianity  with  Heathenism.  G.  Uhlhorn. 
Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

Constantine  the  Great.  E.  L.  Cutts.  E.  &  J.  B.  Young 
&  Co.,  New  York. 

Continental  Teutons,  The.  Charles  Merivale.  (Conver- 
sion of  the  West  Series.)  E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co., 
New  York. 

Conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Charles  Merivale. 
Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Conversion  of  Northern  Europe.  Charles  Merivale. 
Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Cyclopedia  of  Biblical,  Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical 
Literature.  (10  vols.)  J.  McClintock  and  J.  Strong. 
Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 

Darkness  and  Dawn.    F.  W.  Farrar.    Tauchnitz,  Leipzig. 

Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'Ang.  Harlan  P.  Beach.  Student 
Volunteer,  New  York. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Edward  Gib- 
bon.    Porter  &  Coates,  Philadelphia. 

Description  of  Greenland,  A.  Hans  Egede.  T.  &  J.  All- 
man,  London. 

Development  of  the  Mission  Field.  E.  M.  Bliss.  F.  II. 
Revell  Co.,  New  York. 

Dictionary  of  Hymnology.  John  Julian.  John  Murray, 
London. 

Eighteen  Christian  Centuries,  The.  James  White.  Ap- 
pleton &  Co.,  New  York. 

Encyclopedia  of  Missions.  E.  M.  Bliss.  Funk  &  Wag- 
nails,  New  York. 

English,  The.  G.  F.  Maclear.  (Conversion  of  the  West 
Series.)     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New  York. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  241 

English  Church  in  Other  Lands,  The.     H.  W.  Tucker. 

(Epochs  of  Church  History  Series.)     A.  D.  F.  Ran- 
dolph Co.,  New  York. 
English  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages,  The.     W.  H.  Hunt. 

(Epochs  of  Church  History  Series.)     A.  D.  F.  Ran- 
dolph Co.,  New  York. 
Evangelical  Revival  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  The.    J. 

H.   Overton.     (Epochs  of  Church   History  Series.) 

A.  D.  F.  Randolph  Co.,  New  York. 
First  Christmas  Tree,  The.     H.  Van  Dyke.     Scribner's 

Sons,  New  York. 
Foreign  Missions :  Their  Relations  and  Claims.     Rufus 

Anderson.     Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 
Foundation  of  Oxford,  The.     M.  Creighton.     (Epochs  of 

Church  History  Series.)      A.  D.  F.  Randolph  Co., 

New  York. 
Gathering  Clouds.     F.  W.  Farrar.     Longmans  &  Green, 

Loudon. 
German  Reformation,  The.     M.  Creighton.     (Epochs  of 

Church  History  Series.)     A.  D.   F.  Randolph  Co., 

New  York. 
Harper's  Magazine.  Vol.  XLIX.  Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 
Henry  Martyn.     George  Smith.    Religious  Tract  Society, 

London. 
Heroes  of  Asgard,  The.     A.  &  E.  Keary.     Rodgers  Bros., 

Philadelphia. 
History  of  England.    David  Hume.    (Students'  Abridged 

Edition.)     New  York,  1870. 
History  of  Foreign  Missions.     R.  Anderson.     Congrega- 

gational  Pub.  Co.,  Boston. 
History  of  Latin  Christianity.     H.  H.  Milman.     Sheldon 

&  Co.,  New  York. 
History  of  Protestant  Missions.    Gustav  Warneck.   James 

Gemmell,  Edinburgh. 
History  of  the  Christian  Church.     G.  P.  Fisher.     Scrib- 
ner's Sons,  New  York. 
History  of  the  Christian  Church.    J.  F.  Hurst.    Eaton  & 

Mains,  New  York. 


242  VIA   CHRISTI 

History  of  the  Church.    P.  Schaff .    Scribner's  Sons,  New 

York. 
History  of  the  Planting  and  Training  of  the  Christian 

Church.     A.  Neander.     Sheldon  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  The.     James  Bryce.     A.  L.  Burt, 

New  York. 
Hundred  Years  of  Missions,  A.     D.  L.  Leonard.     Funk 

&  Wagnalls,  New  York. 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern.     Louis  C.  Biggs.     Novello 

&  Co.,  London. 
Hypatia.     Charles  Kingsley.     Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 
Illustrated  Notes  on  English  Church  History.    C.  A.  Lane. 

S.  P.  C.  K.,  London.     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New 

York. 
In  His  Name.     Edward  E.  Hale.     Unitarian  Publishing 

House,  Boston. 
Italy  and  Her  Invaders.     Thomas  Hodgkin.     Clarendon 

Press,  Oxford. 
Jerusalem  Delivered.     Torquato  Tasso. 
Jesuits    in    North   America,    The.       Francis    Parkman. 

Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  Boston. 
Journey   through   the   Chinese   Empire.       A.  M.  Hue. 

Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 
Latin  Hymns.    F.  A.  March.    Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 
Lectures    on    Mediaeval    Church    History.       Richard    C. 

Trench.     Macmillan  &  Co.,  London. 
Life  and  Letters  of  St.  Francis  Xavier.     H.  J.  Coleridge. 

Burns  &  Oates,  London. 
Life  of  Christ  as  represented  in  Art,  The.    W.  F.  Farrar. 

Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Life  of  Columba.    Adamnan.    Irish  Arch.  Society,  Dublin. 
Life  of  Las  Casas.     Arthur  Helps.     Harper  Bros.,  New 

York. 
Life  of  Our  Lord  in  Art,  The.    Estelle  M.  Hurll.    Hough- 
ton, Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston. 
Lives  of  the  Leaders  of  Our  Church  Universal.    F.  Piper. 

(Trans,  by  H.  M.  Maccracken).      Reform    Church 

Publication  Board,  Philadelphia. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  243 

Lyra  Apostolica.     J.  H.  Xewman.     J.  &  F.  H.  Rivington, 

London. 
Making  of  England,  The.     John  R.  Green.     Macmillan 

&  Co.,  London. 
Martin  Luther  and  Other  Essays.     F.  H.  Hedge.     Little, 

Brown  &  Co.,  Boston. 
Martyrs  and  Saints  of  the  First  Twelve  Centuries.     Mrs. 

Charles.     Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  Xew  York. 
Middle   Kingdom,   The.      Wells   Williams.      Scribner's 

Sons,  New  York. 
Mission  of  St.  Augustine,  The.     Arthur  J.  Mason.     Mac- 
millan &  Co.,  Xew  York. 
Missions  and  Apostles  of  Mediaeval  Europe.     G.  F.  Mac- 

lear.     Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Moines   d'Occident.     Charles   F.   Montalembert.     Paris, 

1863. 
Nature.     Vol.  X.     Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Nineteen  Centuries  of  Missions.     Mrs.  W.  W.  Scudder. 

F.  H.  Revell  Co.,  Xew  York. 
Norsemen  in  Iceland,  The.     G.  W.  Dasent. 
Northmen,  The.      G.  F.   Maclear.     (Conversion  of  the 

West    Series.)      E.   &    J.    B.   Young   &  Co.,   New 

York.) 
Pagan    and    Christian    Rome.      Lanciani.      Houghton, 

Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston. 
Pioneers  and  Founders.     Miss  C.  M.  Yonge.     (Sunday 

Library  Series.)     Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Planting  of  the  Church.     Miss  L.  C.  Jarvis.     Pott  &  Co., 

New  York. 
Primer  of  Modern  British  Missions,  A.     Richard  Lovett. 

(Present  Day  Primers  Series.)      F.  H.  Revell  Co., 

New  York. 
Protestant  Missions.     A.  C.  Thompson.     Scribner's  Sons, 

New  York. 
Quo  Vadis.     Henryk  Sienkiewicz.     Little,  Brown  &  Co., 

Boston. 
Redemption  of  Africa,  The.     F.  P.  Noble.     F.  H.  Revell 

Co.,  New  York. 


244  VIA   CHRISTI 

Reformation  in  England,  The.  Perry.  (Epochs  of  Church 

History  Series.)     A.  D.  F.  Randolph  Co.,  New  York. 
Religions  of  Japan,   The.      W.   E.   Griffis.     Scribnet's 

Sons,  New  York. 
Roman  and  the  Teuton,  The.     Charles  Kingsley.     Mac- 

millan  &  Co.,  London. 
Romola.     George  Eliot.     Harper  Bros.,  New  York. 
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Stock,  London. 
Savonarola.     Wm.  R.  Clark.     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co., 

New  York. 
Savonarola.     George   McHardy.     (The   World's   Epoch 

Makers  Series.)     T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh. 
Short   History  of   Christian   Missions.      George   Smith. 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 
Sketches  of  Mexico.     John  W.  Butler.     Hunt  &  Eaton, 

New  York. 
St.  Patrick.     E.  J.  Newell.     (The  Fathers  for  English 

Readers  Series.)     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New  York. 
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Series).     E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New  York. 
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E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Two  Thousand  Years  of  Missions  Before  Carey.     L.  C. 

Barnes.     Christian  Culture  Press,  Chicago. 
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Randolph  Co.,  New  York. 


INDEX 


Abyssinian  church,  10. 

Adamnan,  54. 

Africa,  9,  10,  11,  48,  106,  107; 

Lull  in,  131,  143, 159, 180-181 ; 

Moravians  in,  217-218;  Bar- 

bary  States,  218. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  88,  91. 
Alaric,  63. 
Alcuin,  89-92;  prayer  of,  111- 

112;  quotation  from,  116. 
Aleth,  124. 

Alexander  Severus,  18. 
Alexandria,  a  centre,  9;  school 

of,  ]0,  51,  106-107. 
Ambrose,  67. 
Andrewes,  Lancelot,  prayer  of, 

188-189. 
Angles,  44,  88. 
Anglo-Saxons,  58,  59. 
Ann,  princess,  106. 
Anselm,  a  homily  of,  110-111. 
Ansgar,  95-98 ;  quotation  from, 

116,  xiii. 
Apostolic  missions,  3,  5. 
Appian  Way,  7. 
Aquinas,   Thomas,   prayer    of, 

148. 
Arcona,  temple  at,  106. 
Arians,  the,  67 
Ariminum,  58. 
Aristides,  apology  of,  13-29. 
Aries,  council  of,  58. 
Armenia  and  Armenians,  11, 12, 

144. 
Arndt,  199. 
Arnobius,  10. 


Asbury,  Francis,  211. 

Asia  Minor,  15,  48,  53, 143, 159. 

Athanasius,  64. 

Athens,  21,  40. 

Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo, 
65 ;  prayers  of,  75-76 ;  quota- 
tion, 85. 

Augustine,  10,  11,  59,  60. 

Azores,  181. 

Baraza,  167. 

Bardaisan,  11. 

Barnabas,  7. 

Barnes,  8,  100. 

Batavia,  182. 

Bede,  82,  90. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  123-127 ; 

hymn,  152;  quotations  from, 

152-154. 
Bernard  of  Cluny,  hjonn,  115. 
Bertha,  59. 

Bibliography,  239-244. 
Bodulf,  97. 
Boers,  the,  217. 
Bogatzky,  202  ;  hymn  of,  230. 
Bogoris,  103. 
Boniface,  apostle  of  Germany, 

49-50,  xiii. 
Boxers,  the,  20,  97. 
Brainerd,  David,  211. 
Brigida,  53. 
Britain,  entered,  57. 
British  Isles,   16,  52,   206-208, 

210,  212,  213. 
Brunnholz,  202. 
Buddhism,  65,  107,  139. 


245 


246 


INDEX 


Bulgarians,  the,  102. 
Burgundians,  44,  45,  69-70,  88. 
Bushmen,  the,  217. 
Byzantine  Empire,  127,  135. 

Cadoc,  69. 

Caesar,  7,  17,  234. 

California,  173. 

Calvin,  John,  162. 

Canary  Islands,  181. 

Carey,  William,  131,  200,  211, 

213-214;  sermon  of,  225-226; 

on  methods,  226-227. 
Carthage,  a  centre,  10. 
Catacombs,  17,  20;  church  in, 

17-18  ;  persecutions  in,  18-20. 
Catechism,  68-69. 
Celano,  Thomas  of,  hymn,  149- 

151. 
Celsus,  10,  34. 
Celts,  45,  51,52,58,60. 
Ceylon,  65,  181-183. 
Charlemagne,    85-90 ;    corona- 
tion of,  88 ;  establishment  of 

schools,  88-90,  95,  109;  letter 

of,  116,  123. 
Charles  II,  169. 
China,  64,  65,  99,  138-143,  177- 

180,^218-219. 
Christian,  Fred.,  hymn,  233. 
Cistercian,  124. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  10,  22- 

24 ;  hymn  of,  26 ;  sermon  of, 

22-24. 
Clement,  the  Athenian,  10. 
Clement,  disciple  of  Methodius, 

105. 
Clement  of  Rome,  13. 
Clotilda,  46,  47. 
Clovis,  46,  47. 
Coligny,  167. 
Columba,54-56,58,60,61 ;  poem 

of,  72-73,  81,  xiii. 
Columbanus,  56,  57 ;  prayer  of, 

74,  82. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  166. 


Conrad,  111,  123. 
Constantine,  15,  40,  64. 
Constantinople,  a  centre,  41, 48, 

67,  103. 
Cooke,  Captain,  220. 
Coptic,  107. 
Corinth,  a  centre,  13. 
Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  65. 
Cowper,  quotation  from,  236. 
Crusades,  the,  121-128. 
Cyprian,  10,  11. 
Cyril,  42,  103,  106. 

Danes,  the,  94,  95,  98. 
David,  Christian,  209. 
Deer's  Cry,  76. 
Denmark,  92,  98,  124,  202,  203, 

211 ;  Hans  Egede,  214-216. 
De  Nobili,  Robert,  175. 
De  Ortega,  Manuel,  167. 
Dies  Irae,  hymn,  149-151. 
Diognetus,  Epistle  of,  30. 
Doom,  the  Year  of,  101,  109. 
Druidism,  17,46,  51,52,  55. 
Dutch  Guiana,  165. 

Ebo,  Bishop  of  Rheims,  95. 

Eborius,  58. 

Ecumenical  Conference,the,vii. 

Eddas,  the,  92,  93. 

Edessa,  a  centre,  11,  42,  126. 

Edessius,  10. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  211. 

Edwin  of  Northumbria,  59-60. 

Egedes,  the,  214-217  ;  Gertrude 

Rask,214;  Paul,  215-217. 
Egypt,  Egyptian,  9,  10,  48,  51 ; 

hymn  found  in,  76-77 
Eliot,  John,  169-170. 
Ephesus,  Council  of,  42. 
Epictetus,  quotation  from,  32- 

33. 
Erasmus,  162;  prayer  of,  188. 
Eric,  98. 

Erskine,  Dr.,  236. 
Ethelbert,  59. 


INDEX 


247 


Ethiopia,  9,  66. 
Europe,  central,  61,  62. 
Eusebius,  8,  15,  32;  quotation 

from,  31-32. 
Evangelical  Revival,  206-208. 
Evangelicals,  the,  206. 

Finished  Course,  The,   hymn, 

113-114. 
Florence,  135,  136. 
Florida,  173. 
Folger,  Peter,  171. 
Foreword,  xi. 
Formosa,  182,  219. 
France,  15,  16,  46. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  128-129,  140. 
Francke,     August,    200,    303; 

prayer  of,  229. 
Franks,  44,  45,  47,  86,  88. 
Fried  rich  IV,  203. 
Friesland,  50. 
Frumentius,  10. 
Fuller,      Thomas,      quotation 

from,  134. 

Galilean  Sacrameutory,  112- 
113. 

German  missionary  hymn,  a, 
230. 

Germany,  49,  92,  99,  124,  134. 

Gloria  in  Excelsis,  27. 

Goa,  174. 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  123. 

Gookin,  Daniel,  171. 

Gordon,  Patrick,  184. 

Goths,  Gothic,  39,  44-45,  62-64; 
prayer,  a,  88. 

Great  Migrations,  45. 

Greece,  13. 

Greek  and  Greeks,  5,  6,  62,  QQ, 
135,  xii,  189. 

Greenland,  214-217. 

Gregorian  Sacramentory,  pray- 
er from,  75,76. 

Gregory,  the  Illuminator,  11, 12. 

Gregory  I,  58,  59,  61. 


Gregory  II,  50. 
Gregory  X,  141. 
Grotius,  Hugo,  163. 
Gustavas  Wasa,  181. 

Hadrian,  13. 

Halle   missionaries,  the,    199- 

206. 
Hamburg,  96,  97. 
Hanjiro,  176. 
Harold  of  Denmark,  96. 
Hastings,  Warren,  219. 
Hegira,  48. 
Heiling,  Peter,  163. 
Henry,  the  Navigator,  143,  181. 
Henry  IV  of  Germany,  160. 
Herrnhut,  210-211,  218,  220. 
Heurnius,  Justus,  182-183. 
Hildebrand,  160. 
Hippolytus,  8. 
Hodgkin,  63. 
Holy  Land,  the,  123. 
Hosius  of  Cordova,  15. 
Huns,  45,  69,  70. 
Hurons,  the,  172. 
Has  of  Bohemia,  134,  161,  209. 
Hyderali,  205. 

Iceland,  99,  100. 

Ignatius,  8,  18,  28. 

India,  99,  1.37-138,  174-175. 

Indians,  American  work  among, 

169,  171,  172,211. 
Indicopleustes,  Cosraas,  65. 
In  Extremis,  hymn,  152. 
Inquisition,  the,  173. 
lona,  56. 

Ireland,  51,  52,  124. 
Irenaeus,  10,  15,  45. 
Iroquois,  the,  172. 
Islam,  47,  51,  109,  121,  126,  159, 

2.34. 
Islands  of  the  Sea.  the,  181-183 ; 

AVest  Indies,  210,  219;   New 

Zealand,  220. 
Italy,  14,  124. 


248 


INDEX 


Jaffna,  182. 

Japan,  175-177,  219. 

Java,  182. 

Jenghiz  Kahn,  108. 

Jerome,  8. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  134,  166. 

Jerusalem  that  is  Above,  The, 

hymn,  114-115. 
Jesu,  Dulcis  Memoria,  hymn, 

151-152. 
Jesus  Lover  of  my  Soul,  hymn, 

231-232. 
Jesus  shall  Reign,  hymn,  190. 
John  of  Monte  Corvino,  141- 

143. 
John  Knox,  54. 
John  of  Planocarpini,  140. 
Jordan  us,  137. 
Judson,  Adoniram,  224. 
Justinian  I,  40. 
Justin  Martyr,  8,  18 ;  quotation 

from,  29,  30. 

Keith,  George,  184. 
Kentigern,  58. 
Kherson,  105. 
Kingsley,  Charles,  44. 
Koran,  47. 
Kublai  Khan,  140,  141. 

Ladrones,  the,  173. 

Lange,  Conrad,  218. 

Laodicea,  synagogue,  67. 

Lapland,  143,  181. 

Las   Casas,    Bartholomew  de, 

183. 
Law,  William,  207. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  46,  174. 
Le  Comte,  178,  179. 
Leo  III,  88. 
Leo  X,  160. 
Let   us   make  a  Song,  hymn, 

233. 
Liturgy,  Syrian  Clementine, 24 ; 

of  Mark,  25;  Coptic  Liturgy 

of  Cyril,  25. 


Lombards,  44,  87,  88. 

Longfellow,  portrait  of  Charle- 
magne, 86,  87;  portrait  of 
Alcuin,  91-92. 

Louis  the  Pious,  95,  96. 

Louis  VII,  123. 

Luitgard,  91. 

Luke,  3,  6. 

Lull,  Raymond,  50,  130-132; 
prayer  of,  147,  148. 

Luther,  Martin,  137,  160,  162. 

Lutkens,  Dr.,  200. 

Madeiras,  181. 

Madras,  203,  206. 

Magna  Charta,  132. 

Malabar,  65,  66, 107. 

Malaccas,  182. 

Malay,  183. 

Maoris,  the,  220. 

Marco  Polo,  140. 

Marcus      Aurelius,    quotation 

from,  33,  34. 
Mark,  9. 

Marquette,  Father,  172. 
Marsden,  Samuel,  220. 
Mars  Hill,  13. 
Martin  of  Tours,  46,  81. 
Martini,  179. 
Martyn,  Henry,  211, 223 ;  prayer 

of,   229;    poem   on,   233-235; 

quotation  from,  236. 
Massachusetts,    general   court 

of,  169. 
Matthias  of  Janow,  quotations 

from,  154. 
Mayhews,  the,  171. 
May  Day,  527. 
Medici,  the,  136. 
Medina,  48. 
Menzel,  62. 
Messiahs,  false,  128. 
Methodists,  the,  206-208,  211. 
Methodius,  103-105,  106. 
Metropolitan,  65. 
Mexico,  172-174. 


INDEX 


249 


Mighty  Fortress,  A,  hymn,  189- 
190. 

Milan,  edict  of,  40. 

Missionary  creed,  a,  68. 

Missionary,  ideal  of,  19.3-194. 

Missionary  method,  a,  69-72, 
134-135,  191-193,  226,  227. 

Missionary  societies,  organiza- 
tion of,  183-185,  208,  213, 221- 
222. 

Missionary  training  schools, 
164. 

Missionaries,  the  first,  6,  16. 

Missions,  history  of,  12;  Ro- 
man, 222-223. 

Moffatt,  Robert,  224. 

Mohammedanism,  10 ;  rise  of, 
47,  48,  49,  51,  107,  122,  123, 
130,  131,  139,  183. 

Monasteries,  82 ;  characteristics 
of  orders,  135. 

Mongols,  the,  139-142. 

Moravia  and  Moravians,  104, 
183,  208,  211 ;  in  Africa,  217- 
218,  220. 

Morris,  Lewis,  233-235. 

Morrison,  Robert,  219,  223. 

Muhlenberg,  202. 

Mu-hu-pi,  107. 

Muley,  Ismail,  218. 

Music,  sacred,  67. 

Nero,  18-19. 

Nestorian    church,  13,  42,  43, 

65,  66,  107,  109,  139,  144,  159, 

219. 
New  Mexico,  173. 
New  Zealand,  220. 
Nicaea,  council  of,  15,  65. 
Nicholas  III,  141. 
Ninian,  58. 
Nisibis,  42. 

North  America,  168-172,  211. 
Norway,  100,  124. 
Nottingham,  meeting  at,  212, 

213. 


Oderic  of  Pardenone,  138. 
Olga,  princess,  105-106. 
Opium  traffic,  89. 
Origen,  10, 12 ;  quotation  from, 

31. 
Overton,  Canon,  206,  208. 

Palestine,  143,  159. 

Pantaenus,  10,  12,  107. 

Pascal  of  Vittoria,  his  farewell, 
146-147. 

Patrick,  51-54,  79. 

Paul,  6,  7,  13,  14,  15,  18;  ser- 
mon, 21-22,  96,  98,  104. 

Pa  via,  57. 

Persecutions  of  Christians,  10, 
12,  15,  16, 18-20,  28,  29,  40,  41, 
43 ;  in  Japan,  177 ;  in  China, 
107-108. 

Persia,  11,  12,  43,  44,  66. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  123,  124. 

Philip,  9. 

Philippines,  the,  173,  177. 

Picts,  the,  55. 

Pietistic  movement,  200,  206, 
207. 

Plutschau,  Henry,  202. 

Polycarp,  15,  29,  18 ;  quotation 
from,  29. 

Prester  John,  108. 

Prussia,  East,  98,  210. 

Quadrivium,  89. 
Queen  Isabella,  172. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  184. 
Ratislav,  104. 
Reduction,  167-168. 
Reformation,  the,  xiii,  159-163. 
Restitutus,  58. 
Restoration,  the,  169. 
Ricci  Matteo,  178. 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  123. 
Ripa,  homily  of,  228. 
Rome,  city  of,  1,  6,  7, 14;  em- 
pire, 5,  6,  62. 
Roman  world,  the,  5-6. 


250 


INDEX 


Saracens,  the,  87. 

Savonarola  136,   137;    sermon 

from,  145-146. 
Saxons,  44,  88. 

Scandinavia   and    Scandinavi- 
ans, 44,  92,  99. 
Schall,  Adam,  179. 
Schmidt,  217,  218. 
Schwartz,  203-206;  last  words 

of,  236. 
Scotland,  54,  124. 
Scott,  Walter,   the  Talisman, 

123. 
Scottish  Highlands,  51,  55. 
Scriptures,  translation,  5, 65, 67. 
Seleucia,  council  of,  43. 
Selwyn,  Bishop,  221. 
Seneca,  32,  33. 
Seven    Men    of    Liiheck,    163, 

xi. 
Severina,  18. 
Shapur,  11,  41. 
Shepherd  of  tender  youth,  26- 

27. 
Siegfried,  97. 
Siegward,  97. 
Silas,  6,  8,  104. 
Si-ngan-fu,  monument  of,  64, 

65. 
Slavs  and  Slavic,  102-106. 
Socotra,  65. 

South  America,  166-168. 
Sozomen,  8. 
Spain,  15. 
Speuer,  Philipp,200;  quotation 

from,  235,  236. 
Spires,  Diet  of,  161. 
St.  Bartholomew,  massacre  of, 

212. 
St.    Joseph    of    the    Studium, 

hymn,  114. 
St.  Peter's  Church,  at  Rome, 

88 ;  at  Bremen,  98. 
St.  Sebastian,  catacombs,  20. 
Sudanese,  51. 
Sueves,  45. 


Sultan  Meledin,  129. 
Sumatra,  182. 
Sweden,  96,  97-98,  124,  211. 
Switzerland,  211. 
Sylvester  II.,  122. 
Symphorian,  16. 
Syria,  Syriac,  8, 48 ;  scriptures, 
65,  143. 

Table  I,  1,  2. 

Tables,  the,  ?iv,  1,  .37-38,  84, 

119-120,  156-158,  196-198. 
Tacitus,  7, 14,  190. 
Tahiti,  220. 
Tanjore,  205,  206. 
Tasso,  "  Jerusalem  Delivered," 

122. 
Tatary  and  Tatars,  43, 102, 108, 

138,  139,  141. 
Tatian,  8. 
Ta  Ts'in,  107. 
Te  Deum,  79-81. 
TertuUian,    10,   11 ;    quotation 

from,  30-31. 
Teutons,  Teutonic,  44,  45,  51, 

61-62,  85-86,  102. 
Thaddeus,  11. 

Themes  for  papers  and  discus- 
sions,  35-36,   82-83,   117-118, 

195,  227. 
Theoderet,  41. 
Thessalonica,      Thessalonican, 

102,  103. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  163. 
Thoma,  Apostle,  12. 
Thomas  a  Becket,  132. 
Thomas,  the  apostle,  64. 
Thor,  Sacred  Oak,  49,  106. 
Timothy,  6. 
Tjridates,  11,  12. 
Tranquebar  Mission,  200-206. 
Travancore,  174. 
Trench,  R.  C,  61 ;  on  Crusades, 

122. 
Trivium,  89. 
Tryggvasson,  100. 


INDEX 


251 


Uhlhorn,  39. 
Ulfilas,  62-64,  68. 
United  Brethren,  209. 
Upsala,  94,  97. 
Ursinus,  162. 

Vandals,  44,  45. 
Vanderkemp,  218. 
Vandyke,  Henry,  49. 
Vasona,  Bishop  of,  137. 
Visigoths,  45,  85. 
Vladimir,  105-106. 
Von  Leibnitz,  165-166,  199. 
Von  Welz,  163-165,  199. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  207. 
Warueck,  Gustav,  169. 
Watts,  Isaac,  hymn,  230-231. 
Wesleys,  the,  John,  207,  208; 

hymn,  Charles  Wesley,  231- 

232,  213. 


Wheelock,  Eleazer,  211. 
Whitby,  61. 

Whitefield,  George,  207,  208. 
Wiclif,  John,  132-134,  161. 
Williams,  John,  224. 
Williams,  Roger,  170-171. 
Willibrord,  50,  94-95. 
Winchester,  49. 
Woman,  rise  of,  128. 

Xavier,  Francis,  174-177,  181, 
183 ;  homily  of,  186-187,  234. 

Yung  Cheng,  emperor,  218. 

Ziegenbalg,  202,  203. 
Zinzendorf,     Count,     209-211; 

quotation  from,  236. 
Zoroastrianism,  43. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Librar; 


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